Shades of May Flowers
by Bronwen Ackeley
Summary: She's from a different town, with danger on her tail. The Titans take her in, and a new world unfolds. Bronwen will change their lives, but can they battle their demons for the love they seek? M for viol/sex/prost etc. Raven/Robin, Raven/OC RedX/OC
1. Prelude

Prelude

It wasn't waking up that made everything difficult, though there was a strong wish and desire to stay asleep until time itself stood still.

It wasn't the cold, wet ground that made every inch of pain that much harder to bear. The smell was foul enough to wake any being from eternal sleep, but it did not phase the senses. It wasn't even the noises floating in the empty air, so loud to ears which felt like they hadn't heard a sound in years, which put everything into an ugly focused reality. The mind, in its ever feverish attempts to make sense of what was happening in the present, would bring back pieces and glimpses of a past which was too painful, too horrific, for words or memories.

It was remembering that made this moment so much harder to endure. It was the history coming back, the forgetting and the inability to forget, that pounded on a heavy door in the mind, sending this present, this time in space, to a memory that would never be forgotten. Morals chimed, "Terrible, cruel, vicious beast!" while the heart whimpered in protest, vulnerable and weak. Its point would not be heard; the mind like a merciless judge repeated accusations which bore a weight the heart couldn't uphold. So long it had tried to fight, tried to keep the peace between a head which drowned in sorrow and a heart which fought for forgiveness, that even gods were envious of her courage. But was it courage she possessed which allowed her to commit the most volatile, the most horrific of crimes, even in the name of justice the heart believed in?

The question remained unanswered. The mind and the heart belonged to a girl who could do nothing, say nothing, see nothing but the back of dark lids. Common sense replayed over and over again what had happened while her mind harped horrible remarks of disgust, and still her heart battered on. It weakly reminded her whole body that what was done was for the best; it was good, it was unavoidable, and it would hurt no one.

"_No one but me."_

The internal voice shook her to a new level of alertness. The smell made her crumple her nose instinctively. The air smelled rotten, like a thousand spoiled vegetables, filling the room with a stench of decay. How long had she been asleep that the smell could be detected already? Her common sense muttered quietly in her mind's ear,

"Enhanced senses."

A small sigh escaped her, and her lungs burned on the inhale. With energy she didn't know she had, she pushed her muscles to move, and rolled over from her stomach to lay flat on her back. A small _slosh_ noise caught her attention.

_Shit, _she said to herself. The smell, she realized, was more than the fumes of something putrid. On her lower leg she could faintly sense the touch of something unmoving, and could make out the shape of its small touch: two fingertips and the nail of a third, resting awkwardly on the side of her leg. She could feel the skin of getting colder as death set in deeper.

Her mind, battering her will with ceaseless blame, hit her with the pathetic and ugly realization. The heart prattled on uselessly, fearful but brave. The metaphorical slap felt real, the side of her face burning red hot, and she turned her head to the side as if to cower from a second blow. Her cheek hit warm water, and a tear dripped off the tip of her nose to the floor. The smell gave it away.

She opened her eyes to the smallest visibility, and the gruesome colour filled her vision. Her heart stopped the fight; this was proof, and it had given up. This was all the evidence her mind needed, and her heart just stopped. All fight was lost. For 22 years it had held out, and now it fell from grace like a martyr. This, they knew, would be the reason for her end.

Another salty tear fell to the floor covered from horizon to horizon in blood.


	2. City Lights

Bronwen – City Lights

City lights, blinding against a sky painted vivid black, reflected off building windows and doors. Some are open wide, some are locked tight. Behind many doors lay sleeping families, others with crowds of people alive with nightly spirit, and even others where people lay in beds but did not sleep. One of these buildings was a bar, hidden behind two fogged glass doors at the building's entrance, where inside there was a large room where a mixture of people mingled. The décor reflected the power of these people. Deep browns, blacks, satin whites. There were tables with shiny polished cutlery, velvet-back chairs, and melodic piano seeping through invisible speakers. It was simple, clean and normal; the façade.

This was The Lux, a wealthy restaurant and bar for the powerful and beautiful men and women of an upper class. Its air of grandeur would leave all to suspect that not an ounce of shrewdness and abhorrence from the nightly underworld made its way past those doors, yet this was not the case.

Past the dining room lined with tables and down a small corridor of floor-to-ceiling windows displaying the city street four floors below, a lounge came into view. Magnificent fireplaces, chocolate brown leather couches around cherry wood tables… This was the gathering place for the gentleman of strength in Ion City, a lounge where the heads of the political beast which governed their city came to share, argue, smoke, drink and meet. That was also the reason she sat at the bar, on the far wall of the lounge, and simply listened.

To anyone unfamiliar with Ion City, she would appear to be sitting, drinking a half glass of white wine, and doing nothing but staring out the great windows over her shoulder at the night sky. She was, however, doing much more than that. Playing a silent game only her kind knew, the girl held the divided attention of a few men in the room. Though she said nothing, and did barely anything but sip her drink, her mere presence held captive the sordid minds of two or three of the educated men in the room.

These men sat in their groups and kept lively conversation, and even though she was not facing them, she knew they would make glances her way. They would, at the opportunity of a pause or break in conversation, look over at her, examining the red corset, the dark blue jeans and the tall, black heels. She would, of course, give no hint of knowing this and would instead continue staring aimlessly around her, though never making eye contact with anyone. All the men were waiting for the sign, the signal they needed to advance towards her and leave their conversation behind.

She sighed quietly to herself; she was getting bored of this. The white wine wasn't great and it was getting late.

With experienced grace, she tilted the glass to her lips and was about to swallow the rest of her wine, when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She turned her head quickly to see it: a flash of red and black, and just as she was sure she saw a white face, the shadow blurred and was gone. She squinted, frowned to herself and deliberated if she'd actually seen anything. Again from the corner of her eye, she saw a movement, but this time it was in the lounge.

She turned her eyes in the direction and immediately regretted it; a short porkish man in a grey suit and tie smiled snidely as their eyes met. With the contact, she now had no choice. She turned back towards the bar, ignoring her suspicions of the window shadow, and heard him say his farewells to his company. As he walked towards her, she gulped the last of her wine, ignoring the burning behind her tongue. She secretly wished that the tall brunette man sitting in the suede chair by the fire had caught her eye first; he looked to be much fun and far more worthy of her time.

The man in the grey suit came up behind her and put a brave arm around her waist. She turned to face him.

"How much for this flower?" he asked. His voice surprised her with its smoothness. He touched her left wrist and she turned it over. On it, a purple orchid tattoo with a pink lily wrapped around its long, slender stem. Small, snake-like vines and leaves of poison ivy created the small shape of the letter "B" in the background.

He smiled and nodded to himself. She was once again surprised, but also very glad, that he was experienced with her kind. It made everything much easier. The man made a waving motion to the bartender and pulled out two bills: one to pay for her drink, the other to pay the tip. She turned in her barstool to face the lounge, and made clear eye contact with the man by the fire. He drank a sip of his brandy and looked up at her, giving her a small smirk when she pouted slightly at him. He returned to his conversation, having forgotten her already.

With a stubby hand on her thigh, her client motioned for her to follow him. As she did, the familiar sound of her clicking heels on the marble floor echoed only to her ears. No one looked up; this was normal activity to the people of Ion City.

Once through the foggy glass doors, the breezy night air tickled the hair behind her neck. The ocean not far from The Lux kept a sweet, salty scent in the air every night. Her client stopped just outside the doors to exchange a few whispered words with the bouncer, and as he did, she watched a screeching police car suddenly zoom past.

Fish-tailing around the corner and blinding everyone in sight with red and blue flashes, she listened as more noises could be heard. Concerned voices were muffled by the faint sounds of an alarm chiming, and the excited holler of two more police cruisers making their way to the scene. Whatever was going on around the corner, the locals were upset. A few people waiting in line to get onto the lower level dance floor of The Lux left, abandoning their place in line in favour of going around the corner to see what the police were doing. She shook her head, ignoring the image which slowly entered her mind.

Her client gently touched her bare shoulder and she looked away from the lightshow to face him. He led her gently around the right side of the building and they waited as the young valet retrieved the man's car. In the silence, she was about to say something when she heard a noise behind her.

Breathing…

She looked over her shoulder just in time to see it, but her companion did not. In a flash of red and white, the man had a black arm around his chubby neck and a dark figure in a white mask behind him. He struggled in shock to break free from the grip around his neck, and even though the intruder was slighter in frame and stature, he could not budge. She gave a quizzical, scrutinizing eye to the black-clothed man. The crimson "X" marks on his attire were enough proof for her that the shadow she'd seen in the window was this cloaked man.

"Don't say a word," said the mask in a vibrating, electric, voice. "I'm taking the girl."

His captive, frightened, looked over at her but she simply stared at the other man. He tried to wiggle to get a view of his captor, but the masked man only tightened his grip and dug whatever object he held deeper into the older man's back; he was armed.

A few split seconds of silence, and she saw in her client's eyes that he would forgo any attempt at protecting her and instead act to save his own life he feared may be about to end. As quick as a flash, as though he somehow knew his hostage was about to make a move, the black hand not holding him around the neck came flying out and slapped a large, elastic red-coloured X right on his mouth. The poor man made a muffled noise of protest, and the costumed man laughed a deep, vibrating laugh.

She saw now that he was weapon-less, or at least visibly so. He faced the onlooking girl and though she could see neither eyes nor mouth, she had a sense he was smiling. She gave him a disappointed look in return.

"Don't worry," he scoffed. He tapped the muted man's confined mouth and gently nudged him behind his shins to make him fall to his knees. "That'll wear off in an hour."

Quickly, before her client could even try to get to his feet, the masked man stepped forward and grabbed her hand, touching the "X" on the middle of his belt. As though they were being erased from a film, she looked to see her new companion shimmer away into nothing. She closed her eyes as she felt a bizarre prickling all over her skin, but never felt her feet leave the ground. She opened her eyes again to see that she now stood in darkness, surrounded by tall, windowed buildings in a maze of alleyways. A single ray of moonlight rising over the roofs proved the only light.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it did not surprise her when she realized that she'd been teleported. Ion City had its share of the unusual, as underground as it was.

She quickly scanned the area from side to side, and found her kidnapper coming to stand directly in front of her. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Since when do superheroes kidnap civilians?" she asked him. Her voice was low and sweet, but toned a sense of authority and power. He simply chuckled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, girly, but they don't. I'm no superhero."

"Ah. I guess that explains the get-up and dark alleyway," she mocked. His reaction didn't surprise her much as he pushed her backwards into the cold brick behind her, pinning her with his hands against the wall.

"The name's Red X, and trust me, if I'd designed this costume, it'd be way more impressive."

It was her turn to laugh, and she smiled in amusement. "A thief."

He nodded, brining his face so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath through the slits in his mask.

"Petty. I'm no big timer. Just out to take what'll get me by."

"And kidnapping me will help you… how?" She made sure the tone of annoyance was evident. Red X was making much of an effort to intimidate her, and she was hardly fazed. Too long in her heels and men were no longer the scary creatures they were when she was young. She could smell on his leather costume, the breeze from his cape, that he wasn't from Ion City. The smell of salty sea water was different on him then what she was used to.

Red-X knew he had an advantage, despite their even height. He was male, much stronger, more powerful. He was a thief, capable of holding her to any demand with the mere indication of a weapon from his belt. The silver pockets held, she was sure, weaponry designed to fight the more inhuman dangers of the world, and she was supposed to cower in fear of this dominance.

"You have something I want," he whispered, carefully pressing his frame to hers. "Something I _need_."

She could only laugh lightly. "I always do," she whispered back with a sly smile.

"Well," he remarked in his electric voice, all too aware of the near total darkness that surrounded them. "As pretty as you are…" Red X paused, running a gloved finger down gently down her neck, over her shoulder and across the exposed skin above her corset. His keen breath and leather touch made her shiver involuntarily and he sighed in unsatisfied content before continuing.

"Tempting as you are, what I'm after is slightly different."

"Oh?" she questioned him. She blinked slowly, knowing he would think nothing of it, and saw the mental picture which appeared suddenly in her head. Her hands, which she'd placed behind her back when he'd pushed her, quietly searched her three fingers and removed the silvers rings from them. She clenched them in a closed fist and waited.

"You're a strange little underworld creature, aren't you?" he asked her, expecting no reply. She tilted her head slightly, and Red-X laughed menacingly, taking a small step back from her.

"Maybe things are different in Ion City, but where I'm from, prostitutes don't wear Xenothium jewelled rings." He grabbed her right hand from behind her back and pulled it into a sliver of moonlight. He huffed angrily when he saw that her fingers were bare. He pulled her left hand out and scoffed when he saw her clenched fist, prying her hand open. Just as he saw the silver and orange-jewelled rings, a red orb appeared, encircling her hand and swallowing the rings as it vanished.

Red-X looked up at her, anger evident in his breath, and she returned him a smile.

"You're right; I _am_ a strange sort of creature. Things may be different where you come from, but around here, even prostitutes don't have to steal for a living." She gave him a frown and took her hand back. Red-X took another step back and threatened in a low voice,

"I should have known you weren't normal. Either way, I'm leaving here with those rings."

She shook her head. "No. I'm the one making an honest living. You," and she held out her hand, "Will return these or I'll hand both you and your stolen goods to the police."

Her eyes began to glow, coating the original green and white with a lush crimson, and she took another step forward. Red-X reached down to touch his belt, as if to protect something from her, but saw it was too late. Reversing the shrinking properties of his belt, she materialized a black bag into her open hand. It chimed with movement, the stolen jewellery nestled in the velvet pouch. It became encircled in a red orb and disappeared to join her rings.

'Why are you after all this?" she asked him, her eyes turning green once again. Red-X stood tall, at the ready to fight her for his goods, gaining his ground and planning his next move. He was silent for a moment, deciding that even if she had powers, she wouldn't be a match for him. His suit might be weak with lack of a power source, but she was only a girl.

"The suit I'm wearing runs on Xenothium." He confided, sceptical of her motives but at the ready for an attack. "Unfortunately, I've used my last bit of ore. I need more."

"So you stole from a local jeweller to get your fix?"

He snorted. "How do you know that was me?" Her eyes glowed red and she smiled snidely.

"Telepathy," she remarked sarcastically. "I also know your real name, your birthday, how much you weigh, what you ate for dinner… Even your favourite sports." Red-X huffed and took a large step towards her, their faces at the same level and neither backing away.

"I was outside The Lux when the police drove by." She said coolly. Her eyes narrowed with curiosity and she sincerely asked, "Why were you watching me, at the bar in the lounge?"

Red-X said nothing, silent again as he moored over her motives. She had been completely silent in the bar, not saying a word to the business man who'd enlisted her services for the night. Now she was adamant to know, yet he could not understand why she didn't just read his mind. If she was so curious, why didn't she just find out for herself?

Red-X examined her face, saw the green irises of her eyes deep beneath the dark red, and decided she was being polite. She didn't use her powers to invade his mind because she trusted him to answer her, truthfully or not. Unfortunately for her, it didn't deter his readiness to fight her for his bag.

"There's a Xenothium detector in the suit. After I took the jewellery from the shop, it led me to you. For the rings, I wasn't going to waste the effort, but I got… curious about you when I realized what you were doing at the bar."

She sighed. "I can't be in these shoes and have nice things?" Red-X laughed.

"The jewellery, please," holding out his hand and ignoring her question. She shook her head. Red-X growled in annoyance.

"Where is my bag?" he asked, steadying his ground.

"Hidden."

"Your rings?"

"Hidden."

"The hiding place?"

She laughed. "Hidden." He sighed in aggravation.

"What's your name, since you apparently know mine?" He didn't doubt her abilities, his electric voice holding clear distain she ignored easily. She smiled and grabbed the front of his costume, pulling him to inescapably press his body against hers as she backed once again meet cold brick. A thin mental fog instantly clouded Red-X's mind. His gloved hands naturally found their way to her hips as she ran her hands down his chest. She used her leg to pull him closer to her, and her hands moved to snake down his back. Red-X could not help his instincts, his hands moving to touch her thighs.

Behind closed lids, her eyes turned red and she clouded his alertness, searching his mind for a single desire. Typical to all her clients, Red-X's thoughts entered her mind as a moving image, only a second long, like a movie clip. She breathed a small sigh to release warm air on his neck, her lips parted and she whispered close to his covered ear.

"Bronwen."

He made a small, growl-like noise in his throat, barely audible, and she could tell he was aware of her influence on his mind. She gently withdrew her control and slowly pushed him away from her. Red-X took two steps back, shook his head then looked up in anger. He reached for a weapon, any weapon that would scare her, and…

"Bitch…" Red-X rumbled in irritation.

She was gone.

The smell of the nearby ocean helped calm their annoyance. A group of five teens, all walking down the sidewalk of a deserted street, tried their best to calm their frustrations. The red-headed girl spoke first, floating lightly behind her leader.

"Robin, why again do we not pursue Red-X?"

"Because, Starfire," said the ebony-haired boy, "The police don't want our help."

"But why not?" she asked, very concerned. "The police have always welcomed our help back home when chasing criminals. Why do they not wish…?"

"They don't want our help because we're different." interrupted Raven, a girl hidden under a dark blue cloak. A green hawk flew down from high above their heads, morphing into a pointy-eared boy as Starfire sighed.

"I guess some people just don't get that we're the good guys too," Beastboy said, more to himself than anyone else. Cyborg nodded and glanced over his shoulder to see the police gathered out front the jewellery store, all talking to one another. The chief watched the teens intensely as they left the scene of the robbery. His robotic arm made a tiny beeping noise, and he looked down at the screen.

"I've got a lock on a really weak signal of Xenothium. It's probably him. What do you want to do, Robin?" Their leader clenched a fist and thought carefully.

"Red-X is my problem, our problem, not theirs. They'll never find him, and even if they do, they won't be able to catch him."

"But we can't go after him here. The police don't want us doing their job, interfering on their turf." Raven said logically.

"So what are we to do?" Starfire questioned. "We cannot simply leave Red-X to go unpunished."

Cyborg agreed. "Star's right. What's the plan?"

In the midnight darkness, the team of superheroes turned the street corner, far from the police and finally out of their view. Robin stopped, knowing the cops would shortly come to check that they'd in fact left and hadn't gone after their thief.

"We split up. We'll look for him and try to find a way to lure him out of the city. I don't care how you do it, but get him to leave Ion City. When you find him, distract him and we'll come to help." The team nodded.

Beastboy changed into his hawk form again, taking to the sky and flying high above the city streets. Starfire took to aerial search between buildings, flying with Beastboy. Raven disappeared in a black hole beneath her feet. Robin and Cyborg hit buttons on their wrists to uncloak their shielded vehicles parked nearby. Hopping atop their now-visible transportation, both boys roared down the street, Cyborg turning left in the T-car, and Robin headed right on his motorcycle.

Just as the sounds of their roaring engines died away, the police chief and an officer appeared around the corner. Both looked sceptically at the empty space.

"You think they left?" asked the officer. His chief shook his head.

"No, but if those freaks know what's good for 'em, they'll stay away from _our_ nut jobs. This city just isn't big enough for two crime fighting forces, even if our thief is from their city." The officer nodded his head in agreement, the chief grumbling as they both left around the corner.


	3. Running

Bronwen – Running

Half an hour later, a red motorcycle came screeching around the corner of a fenced schoolyard. Robin stopped his motorcycle with a screeching halt just below some swaying foliage. He heaved a sigh and opened his communicator.

"Robin calling the Titans. Have any of you found anything?" Even to him, his voice sounded a little desperate and this only frustrated him more. Taking off again, moving to the wireless communication in his helmet, Robin watched closely for any sign of Red-X. The signal Cyborg had picked up earlier had disappeared and now they had no lead. Robin got the feeling, however, that once their thief found out the Titans were in Ion City, Red-X would manage to find his way to them.

"I've got nothing on my end," Cyborg called back. From high in the sky, miles away, Starfire spoke into her own communicator.

"Beastboy and I have also found nothing."

_I've got nothing either. _Raven said, speaking into Robin's mind. _Just a run-down city at 3am._

Robin cursed to himself. He hated the though of leading his team on a wild goose chase, but he didn't want to leave Ion City without knowing for sure that there was nothing they could do about Red-X. Beastboy morphed back into his human form and called out on his communicator,

"Are we even sure he's still in this city? This place is like a bad remake of Vegas, minus all the lights."

Robin knew Beastboy had a point, for once. They had no idea where Red-X was, but they had nothing else to go on. "Ion City is our best lead so far. We'll search a little longer then head back home."

"Got it. I'll keep you posted on any more Xenothium traces I manage to pick up." Cyborg assured them from inside his car. He whizzed passed an empty recreation center and entered a suburbia, slowing down enough to multitask another city-wide scan.

Materializing from a brick wall, Raven continued her search on foot. She was all too aware that she hadn't meditated all day, and it was getting too late at night to waste what energy she had left on mind searching. She sighed, the familiar tap-tap of her shoes on the sidewalk making the only noise around her.

"This city is way too quiet," she remarked. It was a downtown core, unlit shop windows as far as the eye could see. Ion City was far too large for its own good. Turning the corner, Raven was on an industrial lane, tall business buildings to all sides up and down the street. Not a single car drove by, but at least some windows high above had lights on, reassuring Raven that someone did at least live in this dark, lifeless city. Passing alleyway after alleyway, Raven searched every edge of darkness for any sign of Red-X, but it was her ears which discovered the first sign of life.

Between a bank and a tall marketing building, Raven stopped in her tracks when she hard a noise come from a pitch black alley. She couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a giggle. Raven was about to use her soul-self to see the scene from the darkness, but suddenly remembered where she was; Ion City was known for its frisky nightlife and unbridled percentage of drug abusers and petty criminals. She stayed hidden from view, just out of the alley, but listened closely.

Another noise, and this time she was sure it was a girl, whispering words and a quiet moan. A deep, more masculine voice whispered as well. Raven told herself to leave but couldn't drag her curiosity away. Was it what she thought it was? The noise of moving bodies, the sounds of satisfaction and pleasure told her for sure that what occurred in the alley's shadows was definitely an exchange of goods of a kind she wasn't used to. It was one thing to know about prostitution, and another to actually see and hear it.

The girl's voice called out again in a sweet, melodic sort of hum which captured and held Raven's attention. She was tempted to peek around the corner, check if she could glimpse a slight at what was going on, but couldn't. The girl's voice was intoxicating, soothing in its rhythms and Raven closed her eyes to hear it better. Suddenly, the red light on her cloak bleeped, and her communicator sounded. Robin's voice came over the speaker,

"Titans, regroup. Cyborg and I are…"

In a panic, Raven muffled her communicator in her soul self, afraid of disturbing the couple in the alley. She heard a rustle of clothes from the darkness, realized it was too late, and ran back the way she came, down the street and around the corner. She wasn't sure what she was running from, but she continued to run anyways, away from the alley and away from the voice. She was beginning to see her mind wander, the thoughts forming images of what the exchange might have been. She couldn't allow herself to be that sort of explorative, or get wrapped up in that sort of danger.

Once she turned a corner nearly six blocks from where she'd stopped, Raven slowed to a walk. She breathed a heavy sigh and leaned against the side of a building; her lungs ached with the panic, her heart pounding from the running, and she forced herself to breath slowly. Raven held her head in her hands for a moment, warding off a headache from the sudden burst of adrenaline, and silently chanted her mantra. The girl's voice wouldn't leave her head, and it wasn't helping to calm her down. There was something about that voice, the faceless person in the alley, that wouldn't leave her alone.

A small flash of red from the signal on her cloak reminded Raven of the communicator she'd made disappear. Retrieving it, it formed in her hands in pieces.

"Guess I used more force than I thought," Raven said to herself. Her hand turned a light blue and the pieces moved in her palm to fit back together, forming her once again usable communicator. Robin's voice came through the speaker.

"Raven, are you there? Raven?"

The empath pushed a small button and spoke into the yellow device, "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry."

"Did you find anything?" her leader asked.

"No, nothing."

Robin sighed in annoyance and defeat. "We have to go back home. There's nothing left here for us to…"

"Wait a second," Cyborg interrupted in the background. "I'm picking up another weak trace, and it's moving."

"Where?" Raven asked hurriedly. She was the only one of the team still out. The others had joined Robin, and she could teleport herself to just about anywhere.

"It looks like it's headed straight for you, Rae" Cyborg remarked with surprise. Raven looked up and watched down one end of the street, saw nothing, and turned in the direction she came. She stepped to peak around the corner, and…

"Ooof!"

Raven fell to the ground backwards, the surprise force of someone running straight into her knocking the wind right out of her chest. She fell back, the other person landing right beside her. Raven looked over quickly to see who'd run into her, but it was only a girl. This was all she registered in the split second before Raven saw a familiar red and black blur out of the corner of her eye.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted, her eyes glowing white as a black forcefield appeared just in time to block Red-X's explosive weapons. The girl, sitting on the ground next to Raven, starred in awe at the shield protecting her and the Titan she'd run into. Red-X laughed.

"Must be your lucky day, girly. Normally I'd jump at the chance to fight one-on-one with a Titan, so count yourself lucky you caught me on an off day." Red-X mocked. Raven didn't understand what he meant, but looked over at the girl next to her when she heard a small huff. She was eyeing Red-X, who stood just outside Raven's shield, with a look of anger, her lips pouted in disapproval and her eyes throwing daggers into his masked ones.

Red-X laughed and hit the small X button on his utility belt; he flickered, but did not disappear. Raven's instincts told her to fight back, take a shot at him in that half-moment where he grudged over his failed machinery, but instead she silenced her communicator and hit the alarm button. She understood now why he'd stolen the jewellery and why he wouldn't fight her; his suit was weak and drained.

"Damn…" Red-X smacked the button with a little more force and it whizzed to life. He smugly put his hands on Raven's shield and spoke to the girl.

"You'll be alone sometime, babe." Raven pushed her shield outwards, hoping to knock him back, but he was already gone. The amethyst-eyed girl sighed and lowered her black force field, moving to help the girl beside her to her feet. She looked over, however, and saw she was already standing, brushing dust off her jeans and trying to get a smudge of dirt off her leather heels. Raven took a step towards her.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to be right around the corner when you came running. Normally I can sense other people coming." The girl looked up and smiled gently.

"Don't worry. I wasn't watching where I was going. Thanks for saving my tail, though."

Raven nodded in response. She saw her acquaintances' green eyes were not the threatening look they had been towards Red-X a moment ago. It was the girl's voice, however, that took her by surprise. Raven remembered hearing that voice giggle and whisper in an alley only minutes passed and she stared at the girl with curious eyes, scanning her corset, her heels, she painted lips. She was well-dressed, clean and proper but suggestive.

The girl caught Raven's gaze and returned her own look of curiosity. She spoke softly and smoothly, "What's your name…?"

Raven paused, opened her mouth to answer, but stopped when she heard a car come screeching around the corner. The T-Car came to a sudden, sliding halt near the two girls and the four Titans inside jumped out, at the ready for battle.

"Raven, what's going on?" asked Robin, two birdarangs in hand. Cyborg stood beside him with his sonic canon pointed at the girl he didn't recognise, Starfire with her starbolts charged and Beastboy with barred teeth, snarling in his wolf form. Raven glanced at the girl beside her and saw her look of surprise at the arrival of the other Titans, and answered her question.

"I'm Raven, a member of the Teen Titans. Those," she said, thumbing over her shoulder, "are my team mates." The girl nodded slowly, examining each Titan, and then looked back at Raven. She held out her hand for a handshake, which Raven accepted.

"I'm Bronwen." The other Titans lowered their weapons in Raven's returned gesture and approached the pair. Raven let go of Bronwen's hand, but not before she caught a glimpse of something on Bronwen's wrist. The new girl pulled away roughly, aware of Raven's observation, but turned to the Titans and asked them a question before Raven could ask any of her own.

"What brings you guys to Ion City? I thought the Titans were on the east coast."

Robin nodded. "We are, but we're looking for a criminal who ran from Jump City, here."

"Oh. Well, you should know that Ion City doesn't really welcome newcomers, especially those of the superhero kind," she said politely. Beastboy spoke up vehemently.

"Apparently. The cops told us to scram before sunrise." He eyed Bronwen up and down, aware of her less than conservative appearance, Starfire watching the girl with wide eyes.

"And you should. This city isn't any friendlier during the day." She commented. Cyborg nodded in response.

"I lost the Xenothium trace anyways." He looked up and around him, not seeing much in the night. Raven knew exactly what Cyborg was thinking and turned to Bronwen, though she spoke to her team.

"I sent the alarm because Red-X was here a second ago. He got away before I could do anything to hold him off." Raven eyed the girl in front of her, Bronwen nodding to the Titans. Raven had no need to ask out loud, the strange girl knowing exactly what she was being asked without being told.

"Did you find anything out about him?" Robin asked in his usual tone of dedicated pursuit. Raven ignored his question and asked Bronwen her own.

"Why was Red-X after you?"

Her lips twitched into a small smirk and Bronwen put her hand behind her back, pulling out a second later to reveal the velvet bag she'd taken from Red-X in their encounter only an hour ago. "I managed to take this from him," she said, handing the bag containing the stolen jewellery to Raven. "And needless to say, he wasn't pleased that I managed to escape him. Barely, mind you, thanks to you."

Cyborg, Starfire and Beastboy were wide-eyed at the unexpected turn of events, to have found the jewellery, yet Robin and Raven were suspicious. The Titans knew just how illusive, sharp and notorious Red-X was for escaping them time after time; how could Bronwen have gotten away from him without a scratch? Robin opened his mouth to voice concern and confusion but was interrupted when a loud bang to their left made all six of them turn to look down the dark street. A crash of metal broke almost total silence in the night. A man shouted something and three shadows appeared from around the corner far down the street, headed their way at a steady walk, laughing loudly.

"We should go." Bronwen said in a slightly worried tone, her smile gone. She looked up to see the streetlamp above them, its light creating a haloed spotlight under which they all stood. Like sitting ducks on a pond, she knew right away that their target had already been painted.

The three men were quickly approaching, still laughing wildly, and Bronwen took a sidestep in the other direction.

"I have to go…" she whispered, more to herself than to the Titans, walking away quickly away from them, the men, and away from the encircling light.

"Wait!" Robin and Raven both shouted at the same time. She stopped, but it was not their plea that stopped Bronwen in her tracks; their cry had been echoed by that of a third voice and all of them turned to the group of men who'd stopped laughing but kept walking. Bronwen turned to face the dark figures, a look of desperation on her face. The Titans stood at the ready silently, though seemingly unnoticed.

"Not tonight, Keith." Bronwen called out to the shadows, authoritatively. The one in the middle began laughing again, this time with less amusement.

"I'm sorry, hun," and he stepped under the spotlight of the streetlamp above. "I thought I just heard you give _me_ an order." Keith smiled a crocked smile, his face covered in five o'clock shadow and his short hair in disarray. What they all noticed, however, was that Keith and both of his non-descript, shabby buddies all had blood-shot red eyes. The smell of pot seeped off their clothes.

"Not tonight." Bronwen repeated, this time with less force and more as a statement of fact. This, unfortunately, did not seem to be a fact Keith was willing to accept and he smiled wide.

"Too bad. I've had a fun night so far, and I wouldn't mind keeping it that way." He took a step towards her, and Bronwen stepped back instantly. Keith's face fell and he glared at the girl, his friends laughing hysterically.

"You don't have a say in this," he replied, completely oblivious to the Titans who stood only a few feet away. To Keith, crowds of onlookers were normal. Bronwen saw Raven move to protect her as he took several wobbly steps closer, but motioned to Raven to stop. Keith didn't see the action, and took another uneven step to stand right in front of Bronwen, towering over her by half a foot. He licked his lips and scanned her face.

"You've never been in any position to say no, and I don't take rejection from a whore." He smiled and lifted his hand. He swung, and the Titans all moved towards Keith, but they were too slow. With the _clap_ sound of skin hitting skin, Bronwen fell to her knees with the forces of his backhanded slap across her cheek. The Titans acted quickly, Cyborg restraining Keith's two companions with Starfire aiming two starbolts threateningly at them. Beastboy captured Keith in his bulky arms in the form of a gorilla, Robin with his bo-staf resting at Keith's throat. Raven moved to help Bronwen to her feet, who nursed her cheek.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that." Robin told the man, who squirmed in fear of the hairy green arms holding him tightly, just as frightened as his friends who squealed nervously. As protectors of the innocent, it didn't matter who Bronwen was; she had helped them, and they knew they had to keep her safe in return. So when she asked them to let him go, they were all very surprised.

"It's okay. Let him go," she said quietly to the Titans, rising to her feet. They gave her an astonished look. "Trust me."

Robin gave Bronwen a hard stare, seeing the determination in her emerald eyes, and considered her demand. After a few seconds, he nodded to her, and the Titans released their captives. Keith fell to the cold ground and was in the middle of massaging his now-bruised behind when a familiar _tap tap_ of heels on pavement brought Bronwen to stand above him.

"We're both lucky that you're so high you won't remember this in the morning." He looked up at her, confused. Bronwen frowned a little, more disgusted than sad, and waited. Inside her mind she searched, unknowingly to the others standing around, prodding Keith's mind for anything she could find. Her eyes flickered over and over across his face, seemingly moving from feature to feature, but behind those lovely green eyes Bronwen watched the moving images that came to her, unseen and unknown to the Titans.

Keith stared up at her, unable to look away, and within seconds it was over. Bronwen broke the contact and looked up at the Titans, Keith shaking his head slightly as if to shake off a daze. She'd seen nothing in his mind that was menacing and was comfortable to leave him for the night to sober up. He wasn't much of a threat to anyone in his current state.

"He's not worth the effort." Bronwen said to the Titans, peering down at the man at her feet. He'd gotten distracted with his hair when he'd shaken his head, and was now trying to shake off something he imagined was on his scalp. His friends sat with heads between their knees, terrified to death of the robotic man and the alien girl. Bronwen sighed and looked up at Robin.

"Thanks again, for helping me out, but I really should get going." She made a small waving motion, catching Raven's eyes once again, and walked briskly in the direction she'd come from. Around the corner, her heels clicked quietly and Bronwen continued forward. She hugged herself lightly, unsure why she moved so quickly but knew she wanted away from the Titans. Raven had seen her mark, and because of Keith's crude remark and unwelcome arrival, she was sure they had guessed why she was out at night.

It wouldn't bother her that they knew if they hadn't helped her. Twice. She had nothing to repay them with. They were protecting her, the guardians without judgement and she was the lowest of creatures, so undeserving of that heroism. Her place on the social ladder of Ion City held her bare to the true nature of humans, and yet the Titans, with hope, perhaps not knowing of her status, came to her aid. All she could give them was her ability to move out of their minds, to not interfere in their lives any longer. She would, as she always had, float by and be forgotten. It was not her place to stay longer than was needed, and Bronwen knew that very well.

This fate, however, was not hers to choose.

A small, pale hand touched Bronwen's shoulder and she instinctively stopped walking. She looked at the ashen-skinned hand that held her gently in place, not turning to meet Raven's eyes.

"Wait…" the dark girl requested gently. Bronwen sighed lightly, held her chin high, and turned to meet the gaze of the five teens behind her. She knew them from stories, tales of their heroic crime fighting making their way past Ion City's barriers. The politicians tired so hard to rid their city of the unnatural, but try as they might, not all news channels could be blocked and not all journalists were welcoming of censorship.

Bronwen saw in the Titans a look of confusion, Starfire floating gracefully and watching Bronwen's every move in a curious misunderstanding. Beastboy, Cyborg and Robin gave her looks of a confusion that was not directed at her, but at her actions. Even behind his mask, Bronwen could see that the leader of the Titans did not judge her and his frown told her that he didn't understand why she was trying so quickly to leave them.

It was, however, Raven's deep purple eyes that spoke to Bronwen the most. Raven knew; she had been outside they alley, she had seen her flower, and she was more familiar than all her team-mates to the darker sides of the night life. She gave Bronwen a look that spoke wonders to her compassion and sympathy, and Bronwen could find words in those eyes to explain herself.

"I'm sorry. It's just that… It can be bad for business to be seen with the Teen Titans, you know? I don't want my clients to think I've got superhero bodyguards." She tried to turn it into a joke, but it didn't go over. They kept their gazes serious. She dropped her head, crossed her arms and blew a strand of her bangs away from her face when she looked up again.

"Thank you, again, for everything," she said, nodding her head. "I don't deserve to be saved, twice."

"We're the ones who should be thanking you. You managed to get the stolen Xenothium from Red-X." Robin stated, holding out his hand to thank her. Bronwen looked down at his gloved hand, then up at Raven. She knew what Raven was waiting for, and Bronwen didn't give it to her; she awkwardly returned Robin's hand shake with her right hand.

"Is Keith a friend of yours?" Raven asked, knowing very well the answer. Still, her questioned sounded to Bronwen to hold some sincerity, and she smiled a sad, sarcastic smirk.

"Something like that, yeah. He's one of my regulars." Inside, she was ashamed to say words like those out loud, as if saying it for others to hear made it more real than it was. She knew that they would take it as an admittance of Keith's accusation, and they did. Starfire floated a little closer, landing on her feet gracefully beside Raven, hugging herself as the three boys frowned in understanding. Raven appeared expressionless to the others, but Bronwen caught the look of sympathy that crossed her eyes just before she looked away from the five watchful gazes. Bronwen could handle their undeserved protection, but not their pity.

"Does he always treat you like that?" Beastboy asked, referring to Keith's abuse. Bronwen looked over at the man and examined his face carefully. She was sure that he asked the question from a truly caring point of view, yet she was suspicious. She did not want the Titans to believe that was as weak as she appeared. Beastboy's expression didn't falter.

"It's a risk of my job," she answered. Bronwen was beginning to realize that she didn't want the Titans to believe that her social position was all she was. She didn't want them to see her as an unprotected, abused, abandoned girl. Raven especially, with her violet eyes which seemed to know more than she let on, was the one Bronwen wanted most of all to understand that she was not frail. But what would it cost her to reveal herself to them? What purpose would it served other than for Bronwen to believe that someone out there didn't think they could walk all over her?

"That was not what Beastboy was asking…" Starfire prompted lightly. The misfit girl caught the alien's jade-coloured stare and saw that she too was genuinely concerned. For a moment, Bronwen said nothing. She began to answer her own questions, and soon realized that she was simply tired of being forgotten. She had spent so long being the one who faded in and out, and in the Titans she saw a chance to be remembered, to become a person and not another faceless individual. Had she not served her debt long enough, been punished enough for her mistakes?

Bronwen sighed, releasing a sort of mental wall, and answered the question honestly. "Yes and no. He's a main dealer of marijuana around here, so he's fazed a lot of the time. He's only abusive when he's high, and unfortunately he's not sober very often." She ran her left hand through her pixie-ish hair out of nervous habit, and Raven quickly came forward to catch her hand on the way down. She turned over her wrist, and Bronwen didn't pull away this time as she examined her tattoo. Raven put a delicate finger on the mark and looked up.

"You don't have to be this forever," she said, tapping Bronwen's wrist. "You have a choice. We can help you."

"Why would you want to?" Bronwen asked. Robin came forward to stand next to Raven.

"You don't belong in a place like this. We can all see that. It's dangerous. You'll get badly hurt one of these days." Robin was also truly worried for her, but she smiled a small grin at him. She looked down at Raven's hands and took them in her own, her eyes glazing over in crimson and her hands beginning to glow. Inside Bronwen's hands, Raven's own began to turn their usual black, as if her magic was acting up in response to Bronwen's touch. Raven gasped as both their hands started glowing deep red, small black sparks crackling all over the surface of their skin. The other Titans watched in aw, unable to find words.

"I'm not quite as vulnerable as you think." Bronwen said, gently letting go of Raven's hands and catching her astonished eyes with her own red ones. A second later, they were back to their normal hazel-green. Bronwen reached over and opened Raven's still-closed hands, and revealed what was hidden inside: a tiny orchid made of a shimmering, deep red stone sat in Raven's palm, and Starfire oohed at the gem. Cyborg and Beastboy were quite impressed, the changeling uttering a low, "Cool…" under his breath, and the other whistling in surprise at Bronwen's ability to summon Raven's powers. Robin nodded.

"That's how you managed to get the Xenothium from Red-X isn't it? You have powers that you're keeping hidden."

Bronwen nodded.

"And he's pissed about it." Beastboy added. Bronwen nodded again, this time with a small smirk at Beastboy's expression. Raven's eyes lit up suddenly and she squinted at Bronwen.

"He's threatened to come find you, when you're alone." she said, almost to herself as she watched the girl's eyes narrow with curiosity at what the empath was getting at. Cyborg seemed to pick up on Raven's thought train, despite not having been around when Red-X was.

"He probably wants to get even. I mean, I hate being beaten by a girl, so I can't imagine how that dude's taking it," he puzzled, backing away from the angered looks of the three girls around him. Robin nodded again to himself.

"Red-X is still out there and the police will never catch him. If he's out to get you, then we need your help." He stated it as fact, and Bronwen raised a brow at him, sceptical.

"How could I possibly help? I won't fight him."

Robin shook his head. "Come back to Jump City with us. If he's adamant about finding you and getting even, he'll follow you."

"In Jump City, we have permission to catch him." Raven added. Bronwen almost laughed out loud at their implication.

"You want me to be bait?" Beastboy and Starfire caught the hint of a laugh in her question, and they too could see the ridiculousness of the plan. Robin, Raven and Cyborg, on the other hand, were very serious.

"I could hook up with the city's surveillance system to keep tabs on you." Cyborg continued. Bronwen crossed her arms over her corset and deliberated with herself. They were asking her a favour, asking her for help, and even she could see that it was an opportunity she may never have again to change herself. If she helped them catch Red-X, Bronwen might have a chance to show others her value, to prove to them that she was worth more than what men were willing to pay for. But, the practicalities of the plan had flaws.

"What if he doesn't follow me?" she asked. Beastboy took a step forward.

"We've been after this guy a long time. The dude doesn't give up on anything."

"What am I supposed to do to lure him? I can't do what I'm doing now if you'll be monitoring me."

"Perhaps, if you were to join us, it would be an opportunity to reconsider your activities," Starfire suggested gently, mirroring Bronwen's thought. She could tell that Starfire meant no harm, and wasn't insulted. From their behaviour, Bronwen could only assume that Jump City didn't have the kind of nightlife that Ion City was famous for. She considered Starfire's suggestion, and no visual came to mind. Bronwen just couldn't picture it

"I'm not sure I'm really qualified for other things. Quite honestly," she said, shrugging. "I can't imagine doing anything else."

There was a small pause as silence filled the gap between her and the Titans. Bronwen considered her current situation and wasn't surprised when she found herself thinking the same things she had been when she started.

She had chosen the life of a prostitute not because she wanted to, but because she had to. For her past, she had an infinite debt to pay, and servitude was all she'd ever known. She was used to her life, comfortable with the routine of it all; clients were different from time to time, but every one of them was the same on the inside. It was a skill she'd quickly acquired to be good at her trade, and now she was known as one of the best.

"I've known nothing but this my whole life," she said to them, and the Titans frowned. Raven especially, seemed the most persistent to help Bronwen escape her life, and looked the most saddened by Bronwen's words. "I can't do anything else. Any abilities like yours that I have, I've never really explored. I…" she paused again, searching for words. "I wish there was a different fate for me, but there isn't. I can't help you; not in the way you're asking me to."

"But you can still assist us?" Starfire asked, picking up on Bronwen's implication. She was amazed at the alien girl's sense of perception; she was surprisingly observant despite her obvious innocence.

"Red-X must have come to Ion City for a reason, and it wasn't me, so whatever he was here for, he's still after it," Bronwen stated. "I have a feeling he'll be around here for a while. If I see him again, I can do my best to hold him and let you know." It was the best she could do for them without putting them, or herself, at risk. They had a reputation to uphold, and she had a secret to keep hidden.

Robin seemed only partially satisfied with this plan. The others, too, could tell that Bronwen was being persistent about not leaving. To them, it seemed strange that she wouldn't take a chance at a different life. They hadn't implied anything but her aid, and still she had to politely refuse and settle for staying in Ion City. Raven, however, could see that it was more than that.

_Robin…_ she said gently in his mind. She felt his mind come to her attention and acknowledge her address. _There's something else about this. I can feel a weight on her mind that's holding her here. She won't _let_ herself leave._

_I know, Rae. I can see her fighting with herself_, he said back to her. In their heads, Robin and Raven had opened a channel of communication between them that had brought them closer to each other as friends more than ever before. Since Trigon and Slade had their hands at trying to torture and kill them both, the pair had gained a trust that went unknown to the others. A delicate, thin veil in Raven's mind had been lifted and she'd opened this new wave for Robin to share with her. In return for her companionship, he'd allowed Raven access to some of his most precious memories, all of which Raven had respectfully ignored. She knew those were thoughts better saved to be shared with the girl Robin loved, and Starfire was quickly becoming more and more persistent about Robin's returned affection.

Robin and Raven were now able to keep constant company, and in their greatest moments of aloneness, they had the helping hand of a dear friend. Raven was more than pleased with the bond, though would not admit that to even herself. She took a small comfort in knowing that she shared something with the Boy Wonder that no one else could, and she was reassured in his presence, even when he was not around. She knew better, however, then to take it to heart; the two were friends, and nothing more, though she would never confess that it sunk her heart to the soles of her feet to think of that. Poor, lonely Mistress of Darkness she was, Raven knew better than to hope.

At present, however, the empath could feel Bronwen's own burden, though she knew not what it was. Well guarded, the only emotions Raven could read were those Bronwen had reflexively; something controlling inside her would not allow her to leave Ion City.

Robin resumed conversation as if a pause had never occurred. "Then, if you come across Red-X, call us on this. We'll get here as fast as we can," and he handed Bronwen a communicator. She took it from him gently, her hand lingering on his a moment longer than necessary in an attempt to show her gratitude of their kindness.

"Thank you," she said, taking the device. "I'll let you know the moment I see any sign of him." They all nodded. Starfire came up to Bronwen suddenly, and looked at her face with large eyes, saying nothing. Bronwen blushed a pale pink under her curious gaze.

_We'll see what we can find on her when we get home. _Robin said to Raven, hoping to ease her mind. _She couldn't have gone unnoticed all these years._

Raven nodded, unseen, while the others occupied themselves putting Starfire's mind at ease. The Tamaranian was hounding Bronwen with questions of how she would distract Red-X, where she would be safe, how she would protect herself and what she would do in the mean time.

"Star," Robin said aloud, touching the girl's shoulder. "I'm sure Bronwen can take care of herself."

Bronwen nodded to this. "I'll do just fine. If I don't find him first, I'll keep him on a chase until you get here." Starfire clearly appeared only mildly appeased by this, but was silent. Bronwen smiled gently to her. "I've survived for many years in this city. I think I can manage a few more." Cyborg smiled at the girl while Beastboy and Starfire walked in the other direction towards the T-Car.

"This button," Cyborg told Bronwen, pointing to the small, red button on the back of her communicator, "Will send an emergency, silent alarm to us and let us know you're in trouble. Don't hesitate." He gave her a small nod and chased down his green friend, shouting to Beastboy something about crushing him if he found the changeling in the driver's seat. Before he'd turned, however, Bronwen caught in his one human eye a look of complete uncertainty. She understood that he was, as his friends were, concerned for her safety. They didn't want to leave her alone, but had no other choice as they were unwelcome in Ion City, and the sun would be rising in just over an hour.

Robin and Raven lingered a moment longer. The empath pulled down her hood and held an intense stare with the girl in front of her she'd only met minutes ago. Bronwen was struck by Raven's deep purple gaze and awed at the strange, mysterious beauty. Robin watched her equally as intently, and Bronwen felt compelled to say something.

"I promise I'll be fine. I didn't do anything differently to attract him the first time, and I won't do anything different this time."

"You know where to find us if you need us." Robin insisted.

She nodded. "Of course." She saw Raven's questioning eyes and took the girl's delicate hand with the jewelled flower gently resting on her palm.

"I'm okay, really. This is my home." She closed Raven's hand around the red orchid. Bright lights came around the corner with a thunderous roar of a car engine; the T-Car stopped just beside them.

"Now it's time to go back to yours."

Raven nodded. Robin went to join his team, hopping on his R-Cycle as Raven took her hand back and got in the car. Exhaustion was clear on her face. Bronwen watched them race down the street, off and out of town so quickly it was as if they hadn't been there at all.

As soon as they were out of sight and the sound of engines died away, Bronwen frowned to herself. She couldn't tell if she would regret her decision to stay behind. Somehow, she felt a heavy weight on her shoulders come back that she hadn't known had left. She could almost see the taunting face of Chance and Hope mocking her at the opportunity she'd just allowed to slip through her fingers. That figure danced away into the night, chasing after the Titans. On her bare shoulders she could feel the cold, steely hands of Regret, Guilt and Duty holding her in place. She would not chase that figure tonight.

Bronwen looked down at the yellow and black device she held in her hand and it felt warm on her skin. She could almost see the shred of hope she had left, shinning like a burning light onto her palm; a last chance, and in that light, the mark on her wrist was unseen.

An echo caught her attention to the world back in the center of the city. A man whistled to her. Bronwen immediately straightened up and squeezed the communicator tightly. Without any obvious sign, it disappeared and rested in a spot in her mind next to her rings. She turned towards the call and walked with an alluring swagger so automatic, she didn't even know she did it. To her, as she approached him and snaked her arms around his neck, this man had no face. She smiled sweetly to him and whispered in his ear.

Atop a twelve story building, a shadowed figure watched the scene below, his jagged cape whipping in the wind coming off the ocean. Bronwen looked up at him and made clear eye contact, looking beyond his white mask. Though she whispered into the ear of the man who groped her for support, she mouthed her words clearly to the figure high above.

"Come get me."

And she took off, her client following quickly behind her steady walk. On the rooftop, Red-X watched Bronwen disappear around a corner, and cursed her under his breath. He did not hesitate on her demand, and vanished.


	4. Temptations

Happy Canada Day!

My delay in updating is _mostly_ not excusable. But! I do have a minor setback in finding time to write, and that's because I work three jobs so.... Yeah, that's my reason. ^_^

Nonetheless, here it is! Chapter 4. Thank you to everyone to the reviews. :)

**SunflowerGirlAnn:** I hope this chapter sheds a little light on the connections between all the characters for you. There's not a lot of info, since I can't tell you everything, 'else you'd never come back! If it helps put the whole underground-occupation-in-a-cartoon scenario into perspective for you, just remember that the Titans in the animated series are, roughly, age 12 (give or take, depending on which Titan you're talking about). For the purpose of my fanfiction, they're in their late teens. Cyborg is the oldest Titan and he's 22, so that might help you out a bit. Thank you for the great analysis. Any constructive advice is welcomed.

**GiseMicaela:** Voila. Shame hasn't been placed. An update is here!

**ribcagexo:** 'Interesting' is always a compliment to me. Thank you.

**DriftStar:** A few more answers for you, I hope. My guess is that Red-X leaves Jump City for a change of scenery. Who ever said a villian can't enjoy travelling, too?

Anyways, on with the show.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Teen Titans, but Bronwen, Ion City, and its non-previously-copywrite components are mine. Paws off.

* * *

Bronwen – Temptations

Several weeks after the robbery of a local jewellery store, Ion City was as normal as it had always been. There was no trace of the incident; anyone who'd been around that night had forgotten what happened, their minds almost blanked by the demand for normalcy in their dark town. No one spoke of it, remembered it, cared for it and the police did a fantastic job of making sure that the order was maintained. For the residents of Ion City, the strange and unexplainable was non-existent. They prided themselves on simplicity and normal human life, their city borders the tall walls that held away the unwanted, and everyone welcomed that new sense of relief that once again, there was no need to question routine.

Mid-afternoon, two weeks since the Teen Titans had left as quickly as they'd come, the weather was finally warm enough that Bronwen was able to enjoy the sunlight. Men, at home with their families on such a beautiful day, were less likely to seek out her company, and she relaxed in her quiet afternoon by reading the city newspaper on the patio of a local café.

The sun warmed her skin as her eyes danced across the page, her painted lips pulled up at the corners in amusement as she shifted in her chair slightly, to a more comfortable position. This was, however, a deliberate act; Bronwen's sunny amber corset accented pale breasts beneath a deep sweetheart neckline, and she shifted to allow the two men who walked past her table to take a better glance. Her attempt succeeded, though they did nothing but ogle from the other side of the fence. She smiled to herself and continued reading, the whistles of the men catching the attention of a young couple sitting at a table about twenty feet from her. They glanced up, but returned quickly to their hushed conversation when Bronwen caught their eye.

_How cute. Newlyweds. She's disgusted by me, and he's fighting not to stare. _Bronwen scanned the woman, and heard her utter a comment to her husband about how filthy it was that the city hadn't outlawed prostitution. The man, though he nodded to his new wife, gently stroked himself once out of a sudden need. Bronwen quelled the lust in his mind and looked down at her paper.

Bronwen continued to flip through her newspaper, but now didn't read a word. Instead, she focused on the voices of two boys who, across the busy four-lane street, quickly spoke to each other from around the corner. Bronwen had been careful to keep her mind open since her incident with Red-X, to allow the thoughts of those in her periphery to be heard to her, and she could hear the boys talking. Hundreds of voices were muffled by her ability to dim the noise and focus on what was necessary. Her powers worked with emotions, and the thoughts she heard of the people around her were those reflexive, automatic thoughts filled with sudden bursts of emotion, or the complex and conscious feelings people controlled.

From across the street, Bronwen could hear the two boys talking about her; they argued which of them would approach her. They both peaked around the corner and Bronwen pretended to flip the page for more, but listened as they finally made up their minds, deciding they would both go to her.

Bronwen sighed to herself, _Here we go._

They walked across the street, ungracefully avoiding cars instead of using the sidewalk. They hoped to impress her, jumping over the low fence and sitting down each in a chair across the table from her. She didn't look up at them, though they stared at her with ridiculous grins on their faces, and pretended to flip the page again as if she hadn't even seen them. After a brief pause in which the two boys became increasingly uncomfortable, Bronwen folded her paper, crossed one leg over the other and finally looked at them.

"Can I help you?" She already knew what they wanted, and she already had her answer. They smiled snidely, glanced at each other, and the braver one reached into his pant pocket. Bronwen's address to the boys had caught the attention of the young couple again, and they too noticed what Bronwen was already certain of; the boys appeared only just old enough to talk to her, by law.

Setting down on the table what he'd pulled from his pocket, the braver boy waved a stack of bills and let it fall on the stone table with a thud. Even if she hadn't read his mind, Bronwen could have easily guessed that there was over a thousand dollars sitting between her and them, and she eyed it with disinterest before looking up at them again.

"I repeat my question." She stated, folding her arms over her chest. Bronwen knew what they were after: they wanted her, and they were hoping to persuade her into her companionship in exchange for more than triple her usual fee. She could hear them cursing her in their heads, becoming more nervous by the second as she dragged on their approach. _Damn, stupid whore. Just take the cash and let's jet!_

"We have a thing we're hoping you'd come to," said the same boy, his friend smiling at his choice of words. Bronwen gave a heavy sigh, as if she was contemplating the bargain, shifting in her chair at the images that she could see in her mind, their plans for this "thing" of theirs.

"What sort of thing are we talking about?" she asked, just to hear their response and to see the shocked look on the faces of the young couple. The leader shifted slightly now, and his friend spoke up.

"It's kind of a private thing. Just us." And even his breathing, his mouth, his hands gave away the lie. She didn't need her powers to know that they'd been sent to lie to her. Bronwen snickered.

"I'm supposed to believe that you two saved up over a thousand dollars just for me, for the both of you." Their faces dropped a little, and she couldn't help but notice how young they really were.

"How do you know I'll even settle for that?" she asked rhetorically, pointing to the money still sitting on the table.

"We've followed you," said the braver one, his friend still quiet. Bronwen hadn't expected that, and gave him an angered look he ignored. "We saw what you were taking from other guys, and then tripled it, with interest."

"Why me?" she asked. They couldn't answer.

"How old are you two?"

"We're both nineteen."

Bronwen gave him a sarcastic smile. "We are!" he protested in a whiny voice.

"I don't believe you," she claimed, sitting back in her chair. The more timid of the two was then poked with an elbow from his companion and quickly produced from his pocket two drivers licenses. The young couple continued to watch as Bronwen took them sceptically and examined them.

Kevin Stock, February 1989, Nevada

Matt Hale, April 1989, Nevada.

They weren't even in-state licences. Bronwen reached over and grabbed the money before they could, examining it, and looked over at them again under her lashes painted midnight black.

"These are fakes." Both boys opened their mouths in angry protest, but Bronwen held up her hand to silence them. "I've seen worse and I've seen better ID's than these, but I've been doing this too long to not know the difference between a sixteen year old and a nineteen year old."

They gave her angered looks but didn't say anything; they were surprised at her right guess of their age.

"You're too young. Even if I didn't respect laws, I wouldn't." She handed them back their money and IDs, sighing. "If you really want to spend the money, go put it in an education fund." And she meant it genuinely, opening the newspaper still on her lap and continued reading where she'd left off. The boys looked at her with expressions of mixed anger and amused surprise. One spoke up,

"But… but you're not supposed to say no."

"I just did," she replied, without looking at them. The leader pocketed the large handful of bills angrily and gave Bronwen a look of clear agitation. She could see in his mind the reason for his anger; he was afraid of _his_ leader's reaction when they went back without a girl. Bronwen was to be a gang initiation tool, and they hadn't planned on their target resisting.

The more timid of the two got up quickly and looked up and around the street. He was scared, terrified of the consequences of going back without a girl. Bronwen could hear his heartbeat racing, feel his anxiety as his eyes flickered. His companion was about to say something to the woman sitting across from him when he was shaken roughly by the shoulder from his standing comrade. He looked up and the other pointed down the street.

Bronwen followed their gazes, seeing that he was pointing at a girl in a black mini skirt and cotton t-shirt standing against the side of a building, cigarette in hand. She was trying to catch the eye of the people who walked past her, and Bronwen could tell immediately that this girl was new to the life of her trade. Her attire was typical, her hair dyed a dirty blond and her makeup far too dark. She stood with an air of fake superiority that hid a lonely child behind her too young eyes. The boys knew this, and picked up on the young girl's naiveté; she would be easy to fool.

Without glancing back or thinking twice about Bronwen, they hopped back over the fence and dodged more traffic to the other side of the street. Bronwen frowned to herself, saddened by the knowledge of what those boys were unknowingly going to put that girl through. She had an instinct to save her, to warn her before she went with them around the corner they'd come from, but stayed put. If it wasn't this blond they picked up, it would be another shy girl, and the ordeal would happen anyways.

Bronwen couldn't stand to think of their plans, and shut off all her emotions to the world, every single voice in her mind fazing out like a radio losing its frequency. She could care less about Red-X at this point; Bronwen didn't want to see anymore visions, hear anymore lies, or imagine with experienced knowledge what that girl was agreeing to by taking their money. It was normal and almost a ritual of initiation for the girls of Ion City's streets to fall prey to the cruel acts of human sexual desire, but Bronwen couldn't handle seeing it, hearing it, feeling it in the mind of another. She had plenty of her own memories; she didn't need those of someone else. She closed off her mind, and her powers once again lay dormant in the back of her head.

Bronwen sighed and closed her newspaper, setting it down on the table and suddenly catching the eyes of the couple staring at her. They were newlyweds, and Bronwen didn't need her powers to read the looks on their faces; both of them were clearly surprised at her blunt refusal and controlled authority over the boys. Bronwen smiled slyly at the woman, who'd earlier mentally spat at Bronwen for her social position, and spoke aloud to them

"Don't misjudge me as moral for telling those kids off," she said, getting up and walking to them. She came up behind the handsome man and snaked smooth arms around his neck. She traced light circles on his chest with a finger and ran her other hand over his cheek, all the while keeping a lock in the eyes of his new wife.

"I'd take you for half that much," came the sultry whisper, a shiver running down his spine as she gently kissed the sensitive skin behind his ear and flicked her tongue along his neck. Neither knew which one she was talking to.

Bronwen retreated, the woman stunned motionless, and winked at her before going back into the café. Bronwen waved to the bartender as she left, who smiled to her in return.

Walking down the main street, Ion City's population seemed lively as people en masse walked, drove or biked every which way. The downtown core was alive with the energy of people excited by the end of the working day, bodies running in and out of shops, buildings and banks in all directions. Bronwen walked among them, aware that the toll of a church bell somewhere behind her signalled the beginning of her own work day, and listened to a tune in her mind as she walked with its steady beat.

Her smiling eyes caught those of a man walking in her direction, his deep black curls a silky, wavy mass resting atop his head. His Spaniard brown eyes were alight with fire as she gave him a small smirk, her powers suddenly kicking in at full speed.

The distance between them closed in and he brushed past her, their hands touching as he moved, but Bronwen had already called him to her. His warm aura pulsed with a sudden burst of life, his lust, which she pulled on as they walked away from each other. He stopped, however, the small spark of desire now suddenly turned into a red-hot flame, halting him and pulling the air right from his lungs. He looked over his shoulder and Bronwen glided into a wide, darkening alley, taking his trailing emotions with her.

She felt his pleasure, the desire for sex, and couldn't stop herself from taking hold of it. She let it roll over her like a wave and felt his small lustful look become her own, making it grow in both her and him to an almost uncomfortable degree, trapping him in his own enhanced feelings.

Unable to stop himself, the man smiled and chased after the girl into the alley. Bronwen was a good thirty feet ahead of him, but he quickened his pace to catch up, entranced by the sway of her hips in her shorts, the curve of her corset figure, the delicacy of her bare neck below her short hair. She pulled him along and felt him get closer and closer, his sudden need and influx of emotions feeding her hungry mind. She moved into a doorway, a large steel door deeply hidden inside a concrete wall, and barely had enough time to turn around to face him before the man had his hands on the door on either side of her.

He had his face mere millimetres from hers, hot breath from their brisk pace and searing need mixing as they stared at each other's lips. Bronwen closed her eyes and drank him in, her mind in ecstasy over the raw power of his emotions. His tanned skin smelled like his southern home, his breath like the kiss of sunrays on her neck, and to her, his energy tasted exotic and new. The young Spanish man, for his part, was entranced and could not escape his desire, even if he wanted to.

He brushed a warm hand down her neck, over her shoulder, his thumb brushing out to trace over her corset where beneath he knew lay hidden more of her addictive feminine curves. He moved to her lips, his palm on the small of her back and pulled her to him, their bodies colliding with their lips as they tasted their need in each other. Bronwen's mind was quickly filling with his emotions, his fiery spirit burning into her and intoxicating her so suddenly with pure desire that she was overwhelmed. She played along, her hands moving to his curls and her leg naturally finding its way up to his hip.

She could feel the young man's emotions pouring into her like liquid magma, and with every laboured breath she took, her mind drank in more and more. The more he touched her, kissed her, the greater his pleasure grew and the more passionate the air became. Bronwen opened her eyes just slightly as their lips parted for air, his hand moving slowly up and own her exposed leg, and she saw that the very air around them glowed a deep shade of translucent purple. It sparkled and moved like a wavy cloud around them, Bronwen's skin tingling as she felt what no one else felt, the beautiful colours of their emotions brushing over her.

Bronwen remembered the first time she'd ever seen those glittering colours, looking up to a face she could not see through the thick haze of sparkling purple. The face then, in those memories, was smiling down at her though she couldn't see the features. There was just something in the way the air moved, they way it looked and felt to her then, that the face was smiling.

This air, however, as she looked over the shoulder of the Spanish boy, was different. It was fuelled by lust which she'd enhanced, but now became real. As the power of his own emotions overtook him, Bronwen saw in her mind moving picture-like captions of his thoughts which finally began to become coherent. She saw that as his empowered desire became his real desire, he was beginning to think on his own again, and as he did Bronwen's mind became heavy with the fog of his feelings. Her mind's thirst was almost replete.

Quickly, as was typical, that fog filled her vision, clouded her senses, and Bronwen let the flow of emotions take over her body. Finally quenched, Bronwen released her hold on the man's mind, and his human instincts kicked in, and she was suddenly lost in herself. As she always did, she slept silently within herself and allowed her body on automatic to take over. She felt it, heard it, sensed it all, but was numb.

He moved to his own shorts and released the clasp and zipper to free himself of his clothing, H stood exposed between her legs, one still resting wrapped around his waist as the other supported her firmly on the ground. Her heels gave her the advantage of height, and with his goal in sight, he made a point of drawing attention to his manhood by grazing it across her inner thigh. She moaned, biting her lip for effect.

He looked up at her, their eyes meeting and his devilish expression was clear to her, and he would not wait anymore. After all, if he was ready, why pleasure her? She was just the whore. He moved aside the fabric of her shorts between her legs, and exposed her red undergarments, his eager fingers pulling that last barrier out of the way. Though neither could see below them, their close proximity not allowing for it, it was evident to both by touch how easy I would be. She ached between her legs, aware of how ready she really was, but cared nothing for it. The feeling was as normal has hunger or an itch; a passing sensation.

One hand on her hip for support and the other holding her clothing out of the way, he positioned himself at her entrance, his size becoming evident to her suddenly. She couldn't help a small gasp, knowing it would excite him to pretend to be surprised at his masculinity. He whispered to her a small sentiment in Spanish, and very quickly thrust himself entirely into her. He huffed a little, his knees getting a little weak at the sudden sensation of her inner walls encircling him, and dug his nails into her hips. He hadn't expected, hadn't prepared, for her to be as tight as she was, to feel as virginal as she did though obviously was not. Cruel fate had blessed her with a body meant to please.

She was completely overcome by her own self. As he pulled out, regaining himself and began his rhythmic movements, her eyes glazed over a deep crimson and she shut them to the world, watching from a place inside her mind as her senseless, numb self took over the actions.

Bronwen felt everything and nothing, all at once.

^*^*^*^

The sunny and warm weather made an appearance in Jump City as well, breaking the trend of weeks of cloudy and bleak skies. Chilly winds that had come rolling over the ocean brought with them the threat of rain, and it was beginning to feel like the sun had abandoned their city for good when, this morning, as the sleepy eyes of five superhero teens opened, they were greeted with the morning sunlight.

All were pleased, and everyone was outside enjoying the especially hot day. Cyborg and Beastboy were playing Frisbee down on the shore, Cyborg throwing the disc as far as he could into the horizon, while Beastboy chased it in whatever flying or aquatic form he wished, often tossing it back to his robotic friend from hundreds of feet away. Robin was on the roof of their T-shaped tower, trying in vain to teach Starfire one of the most impossibly illogical earthly tasks to the red-haired Tamaranian: cooking.

Try as he might, Starfire couldn't grasp the concept of a barbeque, and though she could understand how to cook over the flame, it seemed a near impossibility to explain to her why most (if not all) foods did not taste good with her favourite blue fuzzy mould from the back of their fridge.

Sitting in the sun underneath her blue-ish purple cloak was Raven, soaking up the sun and trying to mediate, to her great frustration. Her mind was troubled, and though she'd begun to make more sense of the haze in Nevermore, the empath continued to find it difficult to navigate, and had gone almost two weeks without speaking to any of her emotions.

Inside her mind, she went through her thoughts like a Rolodex, filtering through the images and voices and memories in hopes of finding the obstacle to her relaxation. She couldn't decide what it was that plagued her, but knew it was something buried and lost in the haze. Nevermore hadn't been quite the same since her lapse in meditation, and its normal, clearly marked paths were covered in a fog that refused to lift. The lack of communication with her emotions wasn't making it any easier, and her increased frustration and distress didn't help her situation.

She sighed aloud in mild annoyance, a sigh which was echoed by Robin in his own situation; Starfire had burned her fifth steak.

"Maybe we'll try again tomorrow, Star. Cyborg and Beastboy are probably getting hungry."

Starfire laughed sheepishly and nodded. "I think I might enjoy a swim." She said with a smile, and flew down the side of the tower to her bedroom to grab her bathing suit. Raven could easily see that the biggest problem Starfire had in learning to barbeque with Robin was that she wasn't as excited about learning as Robin had been about teaching.

The Boy Wonder proceeded to throw come enormous steaks on the grill and shut the lid. He looked around him at the approaching evening sky and, spotting Raven not far off, went to stand beside her. She was staring off over the ocean, watching Beastboy and Cyborg play catch. Robin sighed in amusement.

"Maybe she's right. Maybe Trignad mould and barbeque sauce do taste good together." Raven shrugged as Robin laughed.

"She's something, that's for sure," the empath replied quietly as their alien friend flow down from her window and dove into the water. Robin smiled as he watched her resurface and then dive down again, purple bikini and perfect legs flashing in the sun.

"Yeah, can't argue that…" he said in a distracted voice. Raven felt a small prang of jealousy hit her, but smothered and ignored it.

Just then, Cyborg called out to Beastboy, throwing the Frisbee with as much force as he could muster.

"See if you can catch that, BB!" he laughed. Beastboy raced through the water as a marlin, zipping passed Starfire so quickly that before she even knew he was near her, she had already been drenched in a tidal wave of seawater, a fish caught in her hair. The changeling jumped out of the water, quickly changed into a seagull and flew upwards after the shiny disc. Flapping with all his might, Beastboy proudly smirked as he got closer and opened his beak to…

_SMACK!_

Face full of feathers, Beastboy stopped dead mid-air as another oncoming seagull rammed right into him. Dizzy, Beastboy fell back down to the water as the other seagull took off with its prize; the Frisbee. Robin, watching from the tower, shook his head as Raven let out a laugh. She quickly put a hand over her mouth and grumbled. Robin eyed the girl curiously as Beastboy cursed the seagull and Starfire tossed the fish from her hair at the back of Beastboy's head. Such a display of emotions for the quiet girl could only mean one thing.

"Haven't been able to meditate yet?"

Raven pushed up her hood and sighed, "No luck. I keep trying, but something keeps jolting me awake. It's like trying to sleep with a whiny dog."

"Any idea what's causing the roadblock?" he asked, concerned.

Raven shook her head, all too aware of Starfire below them. Floating on her back in the water, it became obvious how little her bathing suit was meant to hide, and just how much of a woman she had blossomed into over the years.

"It feels like a memory trying to keep my attention but I can't latch on to what it is."

Robin made a noise of confused concern in his throat, but was watching his team mates below. Raven caught his attention drift from her to Starfire, just as she dove down again. Raven sighed lightly to herself.

"I'll be inside until we're ready to eat." Robin nodded and returned to the barbeque to flip the steaks. He didn't, however, make it very far before his communicator sounded. He flipped it open and read the screen, the rest of the Titans quickly at his side and completely serious before he'd even finished reading the transmission.

"Mumbo Jumbo's gotten a hold of a bookstore, and he's making things from the books come alive to army towards the city bank."

Beastboy sighed, "Could he make it any more difficult?"

"Give the dude some kudos. He's got to be our most creative villain so far." Cyborg replied with a laugh.

"Let's not give him any more room for creative expression, shall we? Starfire and Beastboy, get changed and meet us downtown in five. Raven can teleport us to Mumbo's location." They nodded, Starfire and Beastboy flying off to change. Raven summoned her soul self to encircle her and her companions, teleporting them, and chanced one last glance at her Tamaranian friend's curvy hips before flying off in a raven-shaped shadow towards Jump City's downtown core.

^*^*^*^

Hours passed, and the Titans had made it home in one piece, as always. Mumbo was always one of their strangest criminals, and he'd decided upon summoning some deranged creatures from Middle Earth and a few evil wizards from a Harry Potter novel to keep the Titans busy while he tried to break into the bank. Thankfully, fictional villains were much easier to defeat than Mumbo had planned for, and his last ditch effort to stop them from foiling his plan had been to pull out a space creature from a fantasy novel. What he hadn't expected was that his space creation was, in its novel, a good guy, and with the help of a laser-wielding, tai-jitsu master from another planet, the Titans easily managed to get Mumbo to walk himself into his jail cell.

So, as the Titans came home alive but exhausted, their battle and the day's heat finally taking its toll, each of them retired for the night just after sunset, Beastboy moaning the whole way about the sunburn he'd gotten on just about every exposed piece of green skin he had.

There was, of course, one Titan who didn't quite make it to his bed.

Robin, though tired and ready to makes friends with his cool pillow, instead stood in the Titans living room in the glow of the giant screen. He looked up through his masked eyes at the face of a legend, though he was more frustrated than awed.

"They don't usually interfere with your issues, Richard, but they feel especially concerned about this."

"I can tell." Robin sighed in annoyance. "Bruce, I told the Justice League already that I'm capable of handling Red-X on my own."

"It's been too long now, and he still hasn't been captured," retorted Bruce, also frustrated.

"His crimes are so few, so random and so petty that we've had trouble keeping a constant tab on his whereabouts. We're –"

"You can't justify this, Richard. A crime is still a crime, no matter how small. Red-X was your creation and you continue to let him slip by." Bruce said, more forceful. His authority over Robin held the young man with little room to explain himself. Robin would never, to any one else, admit his shortcomings in achieving something, but Bruce was no ordinary person to him. Their past as Batman and Robin had enough influence on Robin to remind him that Bruce had, as always, more power over him than he'd care to admit.

"We're working on a lead in Ion City. He robbed a jewellery store there about two weeks ago, and we're doing what we can to trace him from there."

"Any word on this lead?'

Robin grumbled to himself but held his ground and composure to Bruce. "No."

"What sort of lead is it?"

"Red-X made contact with a civilian who appears to have a small history with him, and has agreed to keep us posted on him."

"You're using a civilian as bait, in a city that's illegalized metahumans and their alliances?" He didn't sound pleased.

"She volunteered willingly. Her history with her, we felt, made her useful in keeping a location on him. Once he leaves the limits of Ion City, we'll be ready."

Bruce was silent for a while, considering.

"The Justice League will be in touch in a week. My guess is that they'll be expecting more progress on this issue. If you can't provide reliable evidence about Red-X and his whereabouts, I can guarantee they'll take over the case, and possibly reconsider your role as leader of the Teen Titans."

Robin was silent, and looked down in order to hide the scowl he couldn't suppress.

"Richard, your reasons and intentions in creating the Red-X suit must be taken into account. This is serious. I'm warning you that they'll expect results; be ready to give them."

Robin nodded, but didn't look up. "Yes Sir."

Bruce ended the teleconference, and left Robin in the darkened room. He kicked his chair in pure frustration. "Fuck…" He flopped down on the couch and rubbed his temples.

_At least he had the decency to warn us,_ said a monotone female voice in his head. Robin looked up and saw Raven silently walking to the couch to sit next to him, dressed in an oversized t-shirt. _And they don't have anything to reconsider when it comes to you being our leader. No one could do it any better._

In the dark, Robin scanned her form, but hid his eyes behind his mask and his thoughts behind everything else. He sighed aloud in exhaustion, knowing it was pointless to ask her how much of his conversation with Bruce she's heard. Robin knew full-well she'd probably sensed his animosity and had been in the doorway the whole time.

"I can't believe he keeps getting away. It's been two weeks since Ion City. He should have shown up by now."

"If he had, we'd have known," Raven pointed out. Robin paused, sure that Raven was right, but still doubtful.

"She hasn't sent us anything. I'm worried that – "

"We did the right thing giving Bronwen the communicator. If she hasn't updated us, it's probably because there's nothing to say."

"You sound so sure," Robin said after a moment.

Raven shrugged. Her encounter with their new alliance in Ion City had been on her mind for days. She was beginning to wonder if the obstacle to her relaxation was her growing obsession with figuring out who Bronwen was. Her lifestyle, her hidden powers, her tattoos… Those marks, Raven had discovered, were symbols of Bronwen's price value and her position on their social scale. Her research had lead Raven to a dead end on Bronwen's identity, but she'd uncovered the rules to the girl's underground life; more flowers, more value.

Now, the voice of the street walker echoed to Raven, and she couldn't get Bronwen out of her mind. Apparently, neither could Robin.

Raven shrugged in response to Robin, "It doesn't mean I don't still have the same worries as you."

"We have to contact her, then. She might have powers but we don't know how strong she really is. Red-X could have gotten to her days ago."

"His suit is weak. He might not been able to come out hiding," she retorted.

"Xenothium is rare, but he's been on the loose for so long now, I don't doubt he's figured out where to find it when he needs it." Robin was quiet, allowing Raven's calm presence to wash over him. He was able to think logically with her in the room, and Robin had yet to question whether it was a side effect of her powers, or something else. In the moment, it helped them both decide that weak or not, Red-X was still a threat.

In the dark, Raven pondered the consequences of contacting Bronwen, or the potential benefits. If she was hurt, they might be saving her from Red-X, or worse. But, if she was fine, they may be interrupting her in the middle of something far more important…

Robin saw Raven nod her head in the dim, black glow of the blank computer screen, and they both walked to the keyboard. The empath pushed a button, Robin typing quickly, and a small red dot suddenly began flashing n the window-sized screen, marking Bronwen's communicator on the grid map of Ion City.

"I checked it two days ago; it's been in the same place for almost a week," Raven admitted, making Robin frown. Instinctively, both Titans reached over to push another button, and their hands touched lightly in the dark. They pulled back quickly, neither reacting outwardly. Robin, however, was almost physically slammed at the sudden mental walls Raven created between them, and fought not to stagger. He eyed her from the corner of his mask, but she was as unreadable as ever. In his hesitance, Raven pushed the button they'd both reached for, Robin looking up to the screen.

"Robin calling Bronwen. Please report."

* * *

That's it for now. I've been working on trying to find a good balance between the amount of detail I love writing, and the amount of dialogue needed to keep the story interesting. Let me know how I did, or if I need to work on one or the other.

Flames, constructive advice or just happy reviews are all welcomed.

Thanks for reading this chapter. The next one is already in the works and well underway. The next update will definitely be speedier.

~B~


	5. Unwanted Welcome

Chapter 5 is finally here. Hope you enjoy the ending of this one. ;)

* * *

Unwanted Welcomes

From inside her thigh high boots, Bronwen's fingers searched around for the small tear on the inner layer, and pulled out a key. Unlocking the door, she stepped inside a dark house, not a single light greeting her. She gripped the key tightly in her hand, closed the door behind her with a _click_ as the lock latched again.

Taking quiet steps, the constant tap-tap of her heels the only audible noise, the girl walked through the hallway to a large, open room. To her left she went to the sink, and flipped a switch. The fluorescent light flickered then stayed lit, illuminating a small and cozy kitchen. Bronwen smiled to herself, glad to see her home was exactly the same way she'd left it that afternoon.

She opened the fridge door and pulled out a chilled glass, setting her key down on the island counter behind her. Bronwen gulped down the drink, glad for something cool after such a long night. She'd been picked up by a few regulars for their typical quick fixes, but had made a new acquaintance or two. Her Spanish Boy had only begun her night. In hindsight, she was glad she'd worn her cotton corset and short shorts, otherwise she'd have had a harder time dealing with the heat of the night while dealing with the usual heat of her clients.

Bronwen set down her glass and walked down the hall, turning into a small room at the end of the corridor. Inside her bedroom Bronwen kept the light off, knowing exactly what she needed and where it was. She walked to her dresser as her experienced fingers began to de-lace her corset from behind. She pulled out a large t-shirt and set it on the bed behind her. She glanced out the window on her left, saw nothing in the shadow of trees in the view, and peeled off her top to hang it in the closet alongside the dozen others which occupied to otherwise vacant wardrobe.

She threw the t-shirt over her head, and walked back to the kitchen after taking off her shorts and heels, replacing them with slippers. She reached into the fridge once again and pulled a bottle of premium vodka, nearly full, and poured three ounces into her glass. In the reflection of the shiny metal door, Bronwen took a glance at herself and laughed.

To her, it was funny to see how undone she could so easily look when she spent so many hours of her day tied up in lace, satin and skin to look appealing. Her t-shirt reached mid-thigh, yet her look was topped with the absurdly pink and fluffy slippers she couldn't resist buying, simply because they looked so ridiculous. To add comedic value, Bronwen ruffled her short hair with her free hand and laughed as she turned back to her drink.

She glanced about the barely lit room for nothing in particular and was about to sip her drink when a flash of shadows whipped past her window. Immediately, she was alert. Setting down her glass, Bronwen cautiously approached the patio, slid open the glass door and slowly stepped out onto the small wooden balcony. The warm air greeted her, but this time it was whisked away by the gentle, salty breeze coming off the ocean just ahead. Bronwen scanned the endless horizon, the small beach beneath her, and the trees to her left and right. Whatever the shadow had been, it wasn't roaming her balcony. Yet, she leaned over the railing on her arms and looked around still.

"It's slightly impossible to sneak up on me, you know,' she said to the ocean.

"Slightly," said a deep, electrical voice from behind her. "But not completely."

From a large tree overhanging the roof, the shadow crept out from the mass of leaves, stepping onto the roof and down to balance on the balcony railing just beside Bronwen.

"Either way, you failed," she said, eyeing Red-X. He shrugged and stood up.

"You're not easy to find, you know."

Bronwen laughed at that irony. "Only to you. A chase isn't much fun if you catch your prey right away."

Red-X laughed in return, rich and vibrating, jumping back up to the roof to sit on his heels again.

"What do you want?" she asked after a moment of pause. Red-X cocked his head, as though examining her to see from where she drew her stern attitude. For a moment, Bronwen was slightly embarrassed by her appearance under his gaze, but firmly ignored it. She was more focused on finding a way to reach her Titan communicator from her bedside table.

"You asked me to chase. I followed," he finally replied.

"I thought you were only out to get whatever got you by?"

"I am. A thief through and through, babe."

"I don't see how giving in to my teasing helps you get by," she said, raising an eyebrow of curiosity.

"You have something that belongs to me," he said authoritatively. Bronwen ignored his tone.

"Your pride?"

Red-X chuckled darkly at her sarcasm. "Watch it, kid. You're getting close to toes you don't want to be stepping on."

Bronwen put a hand on her hip with a small _humph_, but rolled her eyes at him with a smile. She turned back to face the water, and opened up her mind just enough to sense Red-X's eyes wander to her legs; she still had dominance over this conversation.

"I don't have your Xenothium anymore," she said to the ocean. Vaguely, she now noticed how much darker the water and beach seemed to be. Red-X jumped down to the balcony. Bronwen caught his silent question. "I gave it to the authorities."

"The Titans, you mean."

Bronwen turned around when he took a few steps closer, and nodded. She might have the upper-hand in their conversation, but he was still a threat of power to her.

"That was three weeks ago. Am I really that hard to find?" she said with a sarcastic smirk. Red-X's electric mask might distort his real voice, but Bronwen could hear the undertone of his returned smile.

"Hardly. A whore has to be easy," She glared at him. "To find, I mean, but finding out about who you are, now that's a different story."

Bronwen laughed out loud. "So the famous Red-X has been doing research on a street walker, eh? How thrillingly ironic! I thought you were a one man band?" Red-X suddenly approached her, hands on the railing on either side of her, his masked face touching her nose.

"A good thief knows what he's after. Anything worth stealing has a good security system, but all systems have flaws."

Bronwen kept her face blank, but raised an eyebrow. Had he just referred to her as a defective piece of hardware?

"I know what it is," she chided with sarcasm. "You can't resist a girl in pink slippers."

Red-X moved a hand from the railing to the small of her back.

"You're from Canada."

Bronwen huffed. "Born. From the 'City with the Heart of Gold'." She eyed Red-X's hand as it slowly moved up to play with a wisp of her hair that had fallen over her ear. "That's hardly a flaw."

He moved a gloved finger to glide down her jaw-line to her chin. "Capricorn. You speak French."

"Trivial. Again, hardly a flaw."

Red-X moved his hands down the curve of her ribs to her hips, stopping at her thighs to rest thee gently. "You've lived like this for too long."

Bronwen smiled from the corner of her lips. "Mm. Six years is a long time, yes." She paused and took his hands off her hips. At the touch, Bronwen opened her mind a little more and could feel his curiosity and pride.

"Your research came up short, X. If all you wanted was my sign, all you had to do was ask." Bronwen walked around Red-X and stepped to her balcony door, intent on getting back inside. At least from inside she could sneakily summon her communicator to signal the Titans. Red-X spoke up again before she'd even reached the door handle.

"You're twenty one and came to Ion City when you were 15. Ran away from home." Bronwen froze mid-step, her mind suddenly reeling. She closed her eyes and forced herself to think rationally. That was useless information. But… she'd never told anyone. The only people who would know how old she was when she'd gotten to Ion City were the people she ran away from. Now he knew too much.

Bronwen turned to face her white-masked companion, her eyes wide, listening.

"You've developed quite a reputation over the years. You're worth the money, they say. Every bit of you seems to hold a story. People talk about your style, your walk, your hair, your eyes, your lips. The rest of your underground gang have a certain respect for you." He paused as Bronwen's look of shock became a glare. He was trying to win her power over the situation. His voice, distorted by the mask, was blank. He stood in the dark of the night that seemed to be crawling around the balcony, his cape and body the bare shadow of a human on the black ocean. His mask, a dense and striking white, seemed to sneer at Bronwen despite its mouth-less visage. He took a step closer.

"They say you're like some sort of drug. There's something about the way you fuck that entices your… customers. Like you have some sort of control over their mind."

Bronwen held her composure and scrambled to gain control again. She gave him a frown,

"I was very young when I was taken from my home up north. The San Citel Keys aren't exactly a great place to grow up; I ran away because I had to," she said, suddenly very cautious of her word choice.

"As for my clients," she emphasised, "You've experienced first hand what I can do."

"Truth be told, kid, I'm not impressed. You haven't even explored your powers, safe for using them to make you a pretty-faced force in this city's sex trade."

She'd had enough. What he knew didn't matter as much as the fact that he was throwing it in her face. She approached Red-X and glared into his masked eyes.

"Last I checked, _Isaac_, I'm not the only one with plenty to lose by having my past exposed."

"People talk," he said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. "I can't help what I hear."

Bronwen's lips tightened as she struggled to control her anger. The last thing she wanted was to piss him off enough that he started a fight. She knew she wouldn't survive.

"From a glimpse, I know enough about you to give you up to the people who've been chasing you for months. Watch what secrets you start revealing."

Red-X was quiet for a second, as though considering her words. He seemed to think twice about his next statement. It had been a long time since anyone called him by his first name.

"You drink too much."

Bronwen took a step back, confused, and almost smiled.

"What?"

"You drink too much," he repeated, nodding towards the small glass of vodka still sitting on her counter. Bronwen shrugged, her anger coming down a few notches, and made her way back into the kitchen, forcefully sliding the door shut behind her. She grabbed her glass and sat on the lone stool, Red-X approaching the door and sliding it open.

"Who told you about me?" she asked sternly. He shrugged, leaning against the doorframe, neither inside nor out.

"What else were you told?"

"We all like to hide our secrets, babe. But you know mine, so I know yours."

Bronwen eyed him carefully, still angry at his intrusion into her past. She swirled her glass and frowned at him, uncertain of what to think. She could feel his mind was well-protected, for the moment, and she was impressed at how well he'd learned to keep his emotions under control since the last time they'd met. She knew, however, it was impossible to feel nothing at all and sensed his ego just below his barriers. A sense of his conscious found her facing a thin layer of enjoyment and amusement, but also a sense of urgency and concern. For what reasons he felt all this, Bronwen wasn't sure. Red-X kept a firm wall up around his conscious thoughts and all she could feel were his reflexive emotions. If she tried to prod any deeper, he'd feel it. To herself, she opened her mind more fully, letting her powers slowly creep up and engulf her, hoping that a wider net would help her catch a glimpse of his unconscious.

"If you really knew anything about me, you'd know that a glass of vodka here and there is the least of my concerns," she said, tilting the glass to her mouth. Red-X took a step inside, and the moment the cool liquid touched her lips, she knew something was wrong. All of a sudden, his barriers dropped and Bronwen was flooded with his emotions; she could feel clearly his anticipation of the next few seconds.

It didn't take much more than those few moments for her to realize what was wrong. Her glass slipped though her fingers, her mind dizzy and disoriented before it even hit the floor. As it did, she looked up at Red-X with horrified eyes.

"D-drugged…" she stuttered through the effort of trying to clear her mind and close off her powers. With them open, she was vulnerable. She had to close her mind before it was too late.

Red-X said nothing, and Bronwen's vision started to blur as the shadows from her balcony began to slide up over the railing like a black mist. Her stomach lurched and she could feel herself losing control as she saw those familiar shadows. Her head swam with the screaming sound of hundreds of voices and she was torn between the urge to clutch her stomach and cover her ears in hopes of silencing the noise. Red-X took another step towards her and the black mist began taking shape, with piercing eyes an even deeper black then their gaseous bodies.

Bronwen could barely see, her eyes glazed over their usual red but her vision quickly filling in black. She struggled to get away from Red-X as her legs buckled beneath her, falling to her knees. The weight of her mind quickly filling her with untamed powers had Bronwen nearly screaming and she doubled over in pain. Red-X took another step towards her, black mist swirling, and just as he did, Bronwen tried to use her powers to push him away from her. Instead, her attempt sent her mind into overdrive and her efforts to control her powers suddenly failed. Spindles of energy darted about the room like whips, jumping off Bronwen's skin like electricity and crushing anything they touched. Purple and red spun around the room and Red-X had to duck to avoid a particularly violent red spindle as it zoomed towards his head. Bronwen let out an agonized groan, her head spinning.

"This can't–" she tried to say, forcing herself to her feet. Through near-blinded eyes, she saw the black forms take shape as husky, colossal men, ugly sneers on their faces, their eyes completely red and their smiles laced with fangs. One at a time they appeared, forming out of the shadows, and Bronwen's heart sunk. She turned to see another man come alive behind Red-X and raised a clawed fist. Just as a muscular arm swung down to throw Red-X out of its way, the thief felt himself get tugged forward by the front of his costume, landing on top of Bronwen as they both fell ungracefully. He looked at her in surprise, her face tormented in pain, summoning what strength she had to move. She looked panicked over his shoulder and suddenly he was in the air, flung backwards by a clawed hand with a vicious snarl.

Crashing into a side table, Red-X hit the wall with violent force, crashing to the floor. Around him, walls and furniture and everything else breakable in the room was getting shattered as men formed and closed in around Bronwen, and she fought them back with uncontrollable energy. More and more appeared as she moaned in pain, muffled screams and tried with all her might to keep the men around her at bay. Groaning, Red-X tried getting to his feet, dodging more whips of red and purple energy. Just as he stood, a burly man with teeth and claws bared came flying into the wall beside him. Red-X moved out of the way just in time to avoid getting crushed between the muscled man and the wall. He got to his feet like nothing had happened, like he couldn't feel any pain, his eyes focused on Bronwen with a sick smile on his face.

Immediately, Red-X got out of the way and watched from a distance, dodging energy streams, and let the men get on with the work he had helped them to accomplish. The beastly man who'd gotten to his feet now approached Bronwen with a grin, dodged an attacked and scooped her up with a clawed hand around her neck. Bronwen gasped and was thrown through the glass doors, skidding across the wooden balcony, hitting the railing. She chocked between gasps but had barely enough time to look up before another brute came at a full speed run through the broken glass towards her. Red-X watched as he rammed into her and went flying through the wooden boards to the ocean below. He'd gotten her, and for a split second Red-X felt a small sting of guilt.

Just as the splash was heard, Red-X took a step forward as two men went to the mangled balcony to see their success. They didn't get far; from their right flew a red spindle, pushing them to fall into one another. Another shot of energy, quicker than even Red-X could have anticipated, and the two men were struck in the neck by arrows of a brilliant red.

As they struggled and gasped for air, Red-X had to step aside to let another brute through the shattered glass. As he took a step, Bronwen jumped down from the roof and kicked him in the back of the head. He fell to the ground with her on his back, and with a small grunt of pain she sent another red arrow deep into his windpipe.

Red-X was too impressed with Bronwen's speed to notice the whip of purple come flying at him from behind and he flew into the fridge door with an "oof". That same whip came down over the counter and split it in two, sending drawers of cutlery and cookware everywhere. The lines of energy were getting more and more violent, and Red-X could hear Bronwen struggling. Crash after crash as more furniture and décor was hit with uncontrollable energy, Bronwen fought her way through the onslaught of demonic men. Red-X looked up just in time to see her fly across the room from the balcony and hit the wall with a sickening thud.

At least seven more brutes stood in the room, ready to strike, and Bronwen got to her knees with effort, groaning as the mob of men paced closer to her, teeth bared in evil grins. From the shadows, another appeared, the same enormous build with deadly teeth and claws, but retained a sense of calmness the other men lacked. Where they were wild, this man was disciplined. He approached Red-X, his pace slow and languid.

"The boss will be pleased. We've been looking for her for years," he said, his voice surprisingly normal despite his abnormal appearance. He held out his hand with a rectangular box in his palm.

"Your reward," he explained, red eyes flashing delight. Red-X hesitated, looked over at Bronwen and saw her move out of the way just in time to avoid being snatched. He saw them creating a circle around her, smiling evilly, dodging out of the way as the purple and red energy quickly became less violent. They weren't attacking her; they were trapping her, just like he had.

"I'm sorry my men had to throw you out of the way," said the men with a shrug. "Sometimes they let their hunger go to their heads."

Bronwen's eyes flashed red once again and with an unseen force she made all the men around her stumbled back. A desperate attempt at a slice of safety that failed; they reformed their positions within seconds.

Red-X put a hand on the box, eyeing the man with confusion. Why was he hesitating? He'd agreed to lead these people to Bronwen, knowing what it would mean, yet seeing her like this… He let go of the box, seeing Bronwen's white t-shirt and leg stained with blood.

"_Robin calling Bronwen. Please report."_

Red-X caught Bronwen's wide eyes as they heard Robin's voice sound out from the communicator laying in the rubble of the counter. She attempted another weak pulse of energy to separate the men around her, hoping to leap to her communicator but the brutes only circled tighter, blocking Red-X's view of her and pinning her to the ground. The thief put his hand back on the box and nodded to the man in front of him.

"This Xenothium ore should keep me powered for a long time," he said, his other hand extended for a handshake. The red-eyed man looked pleased at the success of his goons to capture Bronwen, nodding in thanks to Red-X.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Mr. X." He took Red-X's hand and just as they touched, a jolt of electricity jumped from Red-X suit to the man, shocking him as he snatched the box containing the ore from the man's hand.

"Yeah. Let's do this again some time," he said with a smirk, tossing an elastic X at the man that sent him flying, trapping him as it encircled his entire body. Facing the men that scrambled around Bronwen, Red-X threw another elastic X at the backs of two men, sticking it to their backs as he pulled on the sticky rope from his glove and threw the men backwards into the wall. Red-X leapt over the destroyed counter and pulled a bo-staff from his belt to knock another man off his feet as a second one was shocked with another electrical X.

With a few seconds of space and distraction, Bronwen kicked on of the men in the face as he bent down to grab her. He stumbled for only a second and she kicked him again in the throat, too weak to summon her powers to finish him off. He chocked with both hands clutching his throat and Bronwen made another kick to his groin. He fell to the ground, wincing in pain and almost completely unable to breath.

Red-X quickly scanned the rubble for Bronwen's communicator, seeing it under a pile of forks and broken wood, hitting another goon in the back of the head as he tried to pounce on Bronwen. Despite the fact that he was attacking them, the men seemed unconcerned by his presence. Their focus remained on Bronwen and each time one of them managed to grab her, he began to drag her closer and closer to the open door, trying to escape with her. She fought and kicked and pushed her way out of their grasp but was quickly running out of energy. Each time a brute went down, another managed to form itself out of the shadows, and Red-X was running out of ideas.

He tripped two of them, bashing their heads together on their way down to the floor, and landed beside a man as he stared crazed at Bronwen gasping on the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. Red-X spun a red rope around his body, kicking him in the back of the shins. Suddenly, a man rammed into Red-X from behind, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying. He skidded across the floor and stopped just short of the once-was counter. He looked up to see the man he'd had trapped give him a glare of disappointment.

Red-X tucked the box with the ore tightly under his arm and tried to get up. Suddenly, an agonizing pain shot up both his legs, causing him to fall to his knees. It travelled up his body and into his arms and lungs. He looked up to see the man staring directly at him, eyes glowing a fierce red. Red-X hissed in pain, curled up to hold his stomach and tried desperately to breathe through the anguish.

"I'll take this back," said the man, his voice steady as he approached Red-X and took the small box that had fallen from his grasp. "Our kind doesn't take betrayal very lightly." He stepped back, a small grin of satisfaction on his face. "Perhaps one day, if you ever see her again, you can ask dear Bronwen about that."

Red-X looked up and was about to reply with a snide remark when he saw a plank of wood come flying through the air, hitting the man in the side of the head. Red-X was flooded with relief as the pain immediately went away. He looked over to see Bronwen on her knees, holding three men at bay with an unseen force, another pointed plank of wood in her hand, panting with effort. She stared at the man as he got to his knees, a growl escaping his lips. He swung his arm in the air, and Bronwen felt the slap as a force hit her across the head, her shield dropping as she tried to blink though the incoming unconsciousness.

"Forget orders!" the man shouted, "Feed now and drain her energy!" A collective ripple went through the five men still standing, smiles on their faces as one leapt at Bronwen before she even had a chance to look up. He took her arm and sunk his teeth into her skin just below her right collarbone. She cried out, kicking and trying to push him off her but was too weak; he continued to draw blood as undeterred as if she were limp. Another goon, licking his lips, took one of her kicking legs and bit viciously into her thigh.

Red-X watched, horrified. The man in charge seemed to have forgotten about him and watched as his men anticipated their turns. He must have known that Red-X's suit was running on empty, giving the theif nothing to fight with but basic hand-to-hand combat. Even then, getting thrown about had taken its toll. He tried to think of something to help, but knew that even if he could fight his way through the boss, the goons would tear Bronwen's flesh if he tried to rip their mouths away from her.

He caught her eyes as they blinked in a haze, trying to stay focused. She mouthed the word "help" to him. Her arm dropped, pointing to the rubble beside him. Red-X immediately reached into the pile of wood and grabbed the Titans communicator, tossing it to Bronwen. It skidded just short of her reach, and with all his strength Red-X ran to the man who'd first bitten her, hitting him in the head with all the force he could gather with his bo-staff. He went limp, his mouth relaxing, and Bronwen wiggled out from him. As she grabbed the communicator, Red-X felt arms around his body and was lifted from the floor, the infuriated man in charge holding him in a vice-like grip.

"Robin! Help!" Bronwen shouted into the communicator. A brute, face alight with desire, took her arm in his hands and knocked the communicator away. She shouted in pain as he bit down, taking a large chunk of her upper arm in his mouth without concern. Red-X swung his legs downwards and used all his might to flip the man holding him, sending him crashing head-first into the back of the man feeding off Bronwen's arm. As they collided, both men let go of their prey. Red-X quickly got to his feet, tripping a goon who stood by and anxiously waited his turn, unconcerned of the fight going on around him. Red-X hit him with his elbow in the side of his head, knocking him unconscious, turning to kick the man still biting Bronwen's leg in the neck. He chocked and let go of his grasp, giving Red-X the chance to kick him in the mouth and nose. It was a dirty way to fight, but as both he and Bronwen got weak, they were running out of options.

Bronwen got to her feet and went to the entrance of the hallway, turning to keep the deadliest of the men down. The one in charge, eyes red with fire, was getting to his feet and trying to chase her. With a cry of pain, she threw her hand in a flourishing gesture at him and a wave of purple surged through the room, sending everyone still standing to their knees. The man went flying with tremendous force through the air, out the balcony doors and over the railing into the black ocean.

Scrambling, Bronwen stumbled to Red-X, helped him to his feet and dragged him down the hallway. Behind her, she could hear the sound of wooden walls being torn up as they were followed by hunger-ravished men, their teeth bared. She pulled Red-X into her room, hitting the lightswitch and fell back. An opaque, deep purple dome encircled the room, and Bronwen heaved a sigh of relief.

Outside the shield, the sounds of destruction and roars of anguish could be heard, but Bronwen seemed indifferent. She fumbled to her nightstand, pulled open the drawer and retrieved three rings. Their orange-red stones glowed faintly, but ceased when she put them on her fingers. On her knees, Bronwen examined the bite on her leg and arm before turning to Red-X. He sat in the middle of the near-pitch black room, still unsure of how safe they really were.

"We're fine in here," she said breathily, "I set up this shield a while ago in case this ever happened." She got up on unsteady legs as Red-X got to his own feet, her face a mixture of pain and anger. She shoved Red-X by the shoulders, making him stumble back. She pushed him again,

"How could you do this?" she whispered in anger, in too much pain to shout. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Red-X wasn't sure how to react. There weren't many times in his life where he was rendered speechless, but now was one of them. He'd just saved her life, but was the one who'd put it in danger in the first place.

"For six years I've been running away from these people," she said, pushing him again. "For six years I've been living in this house, hiding. For _six years _I've been selling my body to strange men to keep a low profile!" she said with another shove, tears running down her cheeks. "You led them right to me. They want me _dead_ and you led them right to me! For what?"

She took a step back, her breathing ragged and her cheeks wet, and pointed to the bed to his right. On it, resting there as if it had never left, was the rectangular box with the Xenothium ore.

"I…" he began to say, looking for a smart remark but finding none.

"You sold me out for Xenothium," she said, a frown on her lips.

"I wanted information on you. They agreed for an exchange, told me that the drug would make you talk. I didn't know it would - "

"That it would suppress the control I have over my powers and make it easier for them to attack me," she finished. He nodded.

"I didn't know they were going to try to kill you. I was supposed to find you, make you talk, then report back to them about where you were. They weren't supposed to follow me." Even to him, the story sounded ridiculous. True as it may be, the stupidity of the plan was more evident when he said it out loud. His personal search for information on her had led him to a man who gave him an exchange of Xenothium for information of his own. They were in search of her, and Red-X's suit was getting weaker by the day. If he could get Bronwen off his mind, he may have looked elsewhere for the ore, but her mystery haunted him and the temptation was too much.

Bronwen paused. Another tear escaped and she cringed when the sound of breaking wood became louder and more violent. She hugged herself in an attempt to calm her breathing, but panted in pain and anguish. She stared at Red-X's lifeless mask and huffed.

"In this life, I'm only worth what a man will pay, but you just sold me for the cheapest price of all," she said, biting her bottom lip. Overcome with guilt, he took a step towards her, reaching out his hand. She stepped back, closing her eyes in pain and tried to stop the tears. The sound of growls and attempts to break past the shield became dull noise in the background.

"But…" she went on, looking at him again, "You saved my life. Without you, they'd have me. Even though you led them to me, the only reason I'm not half-dead and on the way to their home is because of you."

Bloodied and panting for a solid breath of air, Bronwen took shaky steps to the foot of the bed and opened the box, revealing the orange ore nestled safely in black velvet. Suddenly, the sounds in the background changed, and the faint voice of Robin directing his team could be heard from the front of the house. Bronwen took the box and stood in front of Red-X, her green eyes staring into his mask.

"Take it. It's what you came for," she said quietly, presenting the ore to him. Red-X paused, unsure of what to do.

"But…"

"But nothing. You saved my life. If there's anything I've learned over the years, it's to forgive and forget." She nodded to him, the sound of Titans fighting off the clawed and toothed men coming closer. Red-X took the ore and attached it to his belt. It whizzed and hummed with renewed vigour.

"Phase out, before the Titans get here," she insisted, taking a step back from him and tossing the box under the bed.

"You'd be helping a criminal escape. That's illegal," he jabbed, hoping to get even a small smile out of her before he left. Bronwen wasn't as easily lightened.

"I'm not the kind of person who sells people out. Trapping you in here so the Titans walk in on you, after all this, would be doing just that." She knew it was a low blow, but she couldn't help herself. She sat at the edge of her bed, blood staining the white sheets. She looked at her feet and held herself steady with hands on either side of her.

"Besides, it'll be more fun to chase you." A small smirk escaped her, pulling up the corners of her lips, and she caught Red-X's masked stare out of the corner of her eye. She heard the smile in his sigh.

Hitting the button on his belt, Red-X phased from the room. A few seconds later, the sound of quiet victory could be heard outside the purple shield.

"Bronwen? Are you in there?" Robin called, tapping on the shield. Bronwen almost laughed, her ribs aching just from the thought, but called out,

"Yeah, I'm in here. Is it…?"

"Yeah, it's safe. All the scary dudes are down for the count," said Beastboy, clearly proud of himself. Bronwen lifted her hand very gently and used her powers to flick the light switch back off. The shield fell and the Titans stood in the pile of wood and boards that used to be a hallway. Around her, the parts of the walls that hadn't been protected by the dome-shaped shield crumbled and the roof above her revealed the star-dotted sky. The warm breeze from the ocean made her shiver as the familiar salty smell filled her nose. She took a deep breath as the Titans came to surround her.

"I'm sorry," she said to them, a pleading smile on her face. "I would have called you sooner but I couldn't get to my communicator fast enough."

Cyborg held out his robotic arm as it scanned her, Starfire flying around the room in search of Bronwen's belongings and putting them in a black duffle bag from her closet.

"She's lost a lot of blood. Her heartbeat is slow but everything else seems fine. She has a small fracture in her left thigh, Raven."

The hooded girl nodded and placed her hands above Bronwen's thigh. They shimmered a faint blue and Bronwen felt the muscle and bones in her leg tingle, and then a pressure she didn't know was there was suddenly gone.

"What happened here? Who were those guys?" Robin asked, standing beside Cyborg. Beastboy sat beside Bronwen on the bed.

"Not where, but are. There's more of them," Bronwen replied, shaking her head. She mumbled a thank-you to Raven as the empath stood.

"Maybe this is a conversation for later," Raven suggested. Cyborg nodded, closing the little window on his arm scanner. Starfire placed the duffle bag on the floor at her feet, and nodded.

"Bronwen appears quite exhausted. She may perhaps be better able to explain this incident after a night of rest," she said with a smile. Bronwen's eyes met with Raven's and Robin crossed his arms, looking around the room.

"Agreed. Raven, can you get us back home?"

Violet eyes blinked and just as Beastboy wrapped his arm around Bronwen's shoulder to keep her steady, they were surrounded in blackness and the room was empty.

* * *

More coming in the very near future. Reviews get responses, and sometimes I'll even review your work.

~R~


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